The Adventure of the Vault Dweller
by flipysrevenge96
Summary: 81 years after the bombs dropped, and they pick now to send someone out? Well, it's not their fault that the water chip kinda died on us. Looks like I'm leaving Vault 13... Novelization of Fallout 1. Rating might be changed to M later.
1. Prologue: Vault 13

"War. War never changes.

The Romans waged war to gather slaves and wealth. Spain built an empire from its lust for gold and territory. Hitler shaped a battered Germany into an economic superpower.

But war never changes.

In the 21st century, war was still waged over the resources that could be acquired. Only this time, the spoils of war were also its weapons: Petroleum and Uranium. For these resources, China would invade Alaska, the US would annex Canada, and the European Commonwealth would dissolve into quarreling, bickering nation-states, bent on controlling the last remaining resources on Earth.

In 2077, the storm of world war had come again. In two brief hours, most of the planet was reduced to cinders. And from the ashes of nuclear devastation, a new civilization would struggle to arise.

A few were able to reach the relative safety of the large underground Vaults. Your family was part of that group that entered Vault Thirteen. Imprisoned safely behind the large Vault door, under a mountain of stone, a generation has lived without knowledge of the outside world.

Life in the Vault is about to change."

…

**Prologue: Vault 13—December 4****th****, 2161**

Life in Vault 13 was a peaceful one. There was no malice, no prejudice, no violence, and most importantly, no wars. My family has been living here starting back in October 2077-The day the bombs fell. My grandparents had made it to this shelter in the nick of time. My parents and I were quite lucky to be born in such a safe place. A diamond in the rough, I guess you could say, considering the irradiated nothingness of the world surrounding this vault. I had lived in this place ever since I was born 23 years ago, and life was quite monotonous. Don't get me wrong: it wasn't completely boring as there was always something you could do there whether it be hanging out around the cafe, or just being with your friends, Vault 13 always had something to do. I would always spend my time hanging out with my three best friends: Max, Albert, and Natalia.

Max Stone was the first friend I had ever made. He may appear brutish due to his massive size and lack of intelligence, but he's a true friend. I'd sometimes get bullied as a kid, but Max would step in and stand up for me. Unfortunately, Max was dropped on his head as a baby, which caused a slight retardation in his developing mind. Often we'd be seen shooting our BB guns at the rats that were crawling through the vents of the vault's second floor, and boy, were we both pretty good shots!

Then there was Natalia Dubrovhsky. She was the granddaughter of a Russian diplomat, and was extremely agile. Unfortunately, she had no understanding of the concept of "personal property". I'd catch her eying my wallets suspiciously to the point where I hid everything of value from her as did most of the other vault residents. We dated when we were in our freshman year, but it fell apart after around junior year. I don't think she's still forgiven me at this point... as if I was to blame at all for our relationship ending. Still she did teach me how to sneak around in the vault at night, and I still remember those rather helpful lessons.

Finally, there was Albert Cole. The guy was a natural leader! He was extremely charismatic and always had girls swooning over him. He was involved in a group that was interested in the outside world, and served as their negotiator, and for good reason: Albert could convince anyone that his way was the right way. The kid could turn God himself into an Atheist! After years of hanging out, that skill of master persuasion seemed to have rubbed off on me, which honestly, I didn't mind.

Despite having three friends that obviously cared about me and loved to spend time with me, I felt the novelty of living in the vault wearing off. Nothing interesting ever happened to the vault residents-unless you were chosen to become the overseer, which was probably one of the greatest blessings that a vault dweller such as me could have bestowed on them. Another thing about Vault 13 is that nobody ever left. Well... Until "that day" had arrived...

…

**Flipysrevenge96 presents…**

It was the first time in my entire life that I was scared. In my entire 23 years of existence,

I've been cooped up in the safety of Vault 13. We all had order and were truly safe, but ideas of safety and order don't exist outside the vault.

That was where I was headed.  
My name is Anthony Breznican.  
And this is my story.

**Based on "Fallout: Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game" by Black Isle Studios…**

I remember it as if it was yesterday. The date was December 4th, 2161. I was called to a meeting by the overseer of the vault. I'd figured it was a maintenance check or something. So, a fraction of the vault's population was crammed into the meeting room. I found it odd that he didn't offer us any bottled water like he usually does during meetings. No one else seemed to notice, so I ignored it. We sat and talked amongst ourselves for a few minutes before he walked in. Silence suddenly fell over the room. He sat at his chair with a grunt before speaking.

"Hello fellow residents of Vault 13. It has come to my attention that we seem to have a maintenance problem. The damned machine is broken beyond repair, so we need replacement parts. Vault-Tec doesn't send anything except jumpsuits and food, and we have everything we need right here. That means that we can't receive anything unless it is by filling out a request form. That could take a year or two to approve of it. Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of time." He sighed. "I've been up all night pondering this decision. Now I know that it is our only option." There was a dramatic pause.

"Someone has to go out there. They have to leave the vault, and secure a new part for the machine."

The whole room fell into chaos while the overseer tried to calm us down. No one had ever left the vault before. It was our home. Our life. Our grave. After a minute or so, the overseer finally calmed us down a bit. Albert raised his hand. "Overseer, would you mind telling us what machine needs fixed?" The overseer shook his head sorrowfully.  
"It's the water purification system."

In the next few minutes, everyone flipped out and started panicking, myself included. It took about five minutes for the overseer to calm us down again, which I could tell got on his nerves a bit. I couldn't blame him either considering that in a time of turmoil; it would be easier to herd a particularly dim flock of sheep during an earthquake than it would to calm us down. He began to tell us his master plan of how he is going to decide on who goes out there. He pulled out a handful of hay and held it in his closed fist. "Everyone, draw straws." He said, hollowly. He was kidding… He had to be joking. This guy is going to put the fate of the vault in someone's hands just because they drew the shortest straw? Was he fucking retarded? I didn't object though, and I instead did what everyone else did and picked a random straw. Mine was about an inch long. Everyone else's was noticeably longer. The overseer gave me a smile that said 'You're totally fucked, but thanks for going out there involuntarily.' He walked over to me and threw his arm around my shoulder. "Looks like Anthony here decided to go out there for us. Thanks pal. You're a lifesaver!" Asshole. Everyone cheered for me as the overseer took me to his office. When he closed the door, he turned to face me. His hand rested on my shoulder. "Anthony, I know that many things are going through your head right now. You are probably frightened, and you do not want to leave the vault, but we are really counting on you. I'll give you the details of your mission tomorrow. For now, get some rest. You'll need it."

I followed the overseer's orders and walked down the sterilized hallways of Vault 13 towards my dorm. I stopped right in front of the door to my room and pulled my access key out. Just as I unlocked the door, I heard my best friend, Max's voice behind me.  
"Good luck, Anthony."  
"Thanks Max."  
"Yep. I really hope you don't die."  
I sighed and thought a bit before looking at him. I gave him a smug grin and said, "Same here."

I opened to the door to my dorm and threw myself onto the bed. I didn't exactly sleep that well that night. I was going to be risking my life for the first time ever. Part of me just wanted to tell the overseer that I wasn't up for it, and that I would take whatever punishment in place of going out there. However, another part of me was excited to see something new for a change. To be able to go on an adventure would be a dream come true. I honestly didn't know which side was winning, so I just set the alarm on my Pip-boy 2000, forced my eyes closed, and willed myself to succumb to sleepiness.

I woke up the next day. The day was December 5th, 2161. I got about seven hours of sleep last night. I looked all around my room, searching for clues to see if it was all just a dream. As soon as I saw the satchel on my dresser with a post-it note that read "Survival Gear—Good Luck," I'd figured my chances of it all being a dream were 1-to-down the shithole. I groaned and sat up in bed. I rubbed my eyes groggily, and got off the clean mattress. I walked over to the satchel and checked its contents. It included a 10mm Pistol with ammo, a knife, 6 stimpaks, 2 flares, some sort of tool, a lock pick set, 2 buffouts, 2 mentats, 3 Vault 13 canteens, and a first aid kit. I really hoped I didn't have to use the first two things, but I knew deep down that out in the wasteland, not using these things was suicide. So unless I wanted to die, using the weapons was inevitable.

I ate very little breakfast. I wasn't all that hungry. I brushed my teeth, and then took a shower. I changed into a fresh vault jumpsuit and forced my leather boots on. It was the usual schedule, despite the sick feeling in my stomach. I grabbed the satchel and ran out the door. My orders were to wait at the vault entrance. As I walked through the clean hallways, I got looks and stares of awe, fright, and disgust from my fellow vault residents. Some pointed, and others whispered amongst themselves. I felt like I was on death row, headed towards the electric chair. Now that I think of it, I would've much preferred getting the electric chair than this. Anything but this. I rendezvoused with the overseer at the vault door control panel. He whipped his head around, which caused his medium length silver hair to bounce. He stared at me with a small smile on his face.

"Ah, You're here. Good. We've got a problem, a _big_ one. The water chip for our water purification system has given up the ghost! We can't make another one, and the process is too complicated for a workaround system." His eyes showed true fear. "Simply put, we're running out of drinking water." He pointed at me in emphasis. "No water, no vault. This is _crucial_ to our survival! And frankly, I…" He trailed off, looking for the right words to say. "I think you're the only hope we have. You need to go find us another controller chip. We estimate we have four to five months before the vault runs out of water." I quickly jotted down a note that read 'Things to do: Get the water chip 150 days left,' and posted it to my Pip-boy. The overseer continued. "We need that chip. We marked your map with the location of another vault. Not a bad place to start, I think." I brought up my Pip-boy and pressed the 'map' button. Sure enough, the map showed Vault 13 surrounded by a completely darkened out map besides a dimly highlighted area far to the right which I guess is Vault 15, our sister vault. Once I was done viewing the map, I refocused my attention on the overseer. He sighed before saying, "Look, just be safe… Okay?" With that, he turned to face the control panel again, and pressed a few buttons.

Alarms sounded, red lights flashed, and the door that I was standing in front of opened. I looked at the hallway that led to the vault exit as the light of my home shone behind my back. I waved everyone goodbye, and cautiously yet confidently, I strode to the vault's exit door. It looked sort of like a gear with the number '13' on it. I stopped to look at the computer panel that I was right next to. I saw the words 'Type a command' written on the terminal, and I typed in, "Open vault door." More sirens went off, the gear-shaped door slid out of its encasement, and a metal arm shot out and rolled it towards the side, thus opening the vault. I walked straight towards the exit, and left the vault.

There's no going back now.

My life will never be the same.

My fate is sealed.

…

_**A/N: Hey guys, I decided to do a near complete revise on the opening chapters for this story. I hope you all enjoy!**_


	2. Chapter 1: Shady Sands

**Chapter 1: Shady Sands—December 5****th****, 2161**

I clutched the grip of my 10mm pistol until my knuckles were white as I began to take my first few steps in the outside world. After about ten steps, I stopped. I was amazed and proud of myself for surviving this long. I'll be honest, I thought from the way I heard it from the overseer and my parents, if you take two steps into the outside world, you were likely to get murdered by a bloodthirsty band of raiders. That statement was supported by the dead man in a radiation suit lying right beside the Vault 13 entrance. Upon closer inspection, I realized that this was Ed, a Vault 13 resident. He had gone missing days ago, and no one has seen him since. So, I guess I wasn't the first to be sent out into the cold, unforgiving world. There was little time to waste, so I didn't bury him. I did, however, loot from his corpse. What can I say? I'd be needing much more than him at this point. I found an extra combat knife and some more 10mm ammo.

Anyways, the outside world was very drab. Vault 13 was built inside a cave, so I had the honor of experiencing my first few moments in the wasteland inside a dark, dull, and damp cave. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something scuttling towards my feet, and so naturally, I shot at it, completely startled. A loud "bang" echoed through the cave as the creature exploded into a bloody mess of bone shrapnel, fur, and guts. I felt queasy just looking at the bloody mess and vomited off to the side. Just lovely. Looking closely at the creature, it was actually an oversized rat. 81 years of radiation tend to enlarge things, apparently. I continued to make my way through the cave, shooting and knifing more and more rats as they came to follow me. One even tried to attack me, but my feet were protected by the leather boots I was wearing.

I took a few more steps and saw a natural light. My guess was that this led out of the cave. I wanted to be cautious as well though, as I saw, by the light, the skeleton of a brahmin. Poor mutated cow. I finally decided on walking into the light. As soon as I stepped out of the cave, I was met by the red hot sun beating down on a barren wasteland. The ground was dry and cracked, deprived of vegetation. I figured my chances of survival were a million to one, but I didn't care. This was for the vault. I adjusted the strap on my satchel and, following the map on my Pip-boy, began walking east.  
I spent the first day in the wastes walking towards my destination, at which nothing happened. My first night in the outside world was pretty uneventful too. I woke up the next day and continued walking. My feet grew tired by the end of the day, so I rested uncomfortably at night. I would give anything for a car. Lucky pre-war bastards. Day three went by uneventful minus the fact that I was already extremely homesick. Around day four, I ran into a caravan, but I didn't have any caps on me, so I couldn't purchase anything. It was day five when something finally interesting happened.

I was walking, pistol in hand through the barren California sands. I checked the calendar on my Pip-boy. It read December 10th. I would give anything for the pre-war luxury of snow. I decided that I would travel at night tonight. At least these nights were cool, so no worry of the sun burning me to a crisp at night. The walking had gotten monotonous by now, but I had to keep going. It was around midnight, and I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. At first I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, and I decided to ignore it, but I felt that maybe it was something helpful—or dangerous. It didn't faze me. If it helped me get the water chip, I was more than happy to put myself at risk. I turned to the new destination and headed there. I hadn't walked three steps before I heard a rough, yet friendly voice say, "Welcome to Shady Sands, stranger. Please holster your weapons while you're here." The man spoke with a southern accent, and he was standing at the front gate of what I guessed was Shady Sands. It looked like a humble town, but a good one to make base camp for a few days. I turned the safety on, and put my weapon in my side holster. I then walked up to the man to greet him. I shook his hand. "Good day," he said. "I am Seth. How can I help you?" I smiled at the man as he had such good manners.

I said, "I'd like some information." He looked puzzled.

"Information? What do you want to know about?" I was about to inquire on the water chip, but I decided against it. I'll get more info from Vault 15… Hopefully.

So, instead I replied, "Nothing, thanks." He looked even more puzzled, but shook it off as we parted ways. I could find myself actually liking this establishment if everyone here was as friendly as Seth. I walked around the town some more and found people staring and pointing at me. They probably did not get a lot of visitors here. I walked right past a large obelisk at the center of the town, and right into the largest building I saw, which was, as I had guessed, the town hall. I needed to speak to the leader of these people for permission on setting up a campsite here.

As soon as I walked into the building, I accidently bumped into a girl about my age, and she was just leaving. As I was desperately apologizing to the beautiful young lady, she seemed to tune me out. She didn't seem mad, in fact, she looked excited.

"Hi!" the young girl said. She had tan skin, dark hair, and those wild eyes that excited children always have. She continued. "I heard there was a traveler in town, but I was kinda skeptical until I saw you. My name's Tandi, What's yours?" Wow. I wasn't even here for five minutes, and news of my arrival reached her before I did. News must travel fast in this town. I didn't hesitate in giving her my name.

"My name is Anthony."

"Well... How do you like our little town? Bored yet?"

She seemed like the kind of girl that wanted people to see things her way. The conversation was going good so far, so I lied, "Hell, yes! There's nothing to do here but watch the brahma mate." I sure hoped that didn't piss her off. A big smile crept onto her face.

"Finally! Someone who sees! Of course, you've probably been everywhere, so this must be hell for you." I was about to tell her that I left the vault less than a week ago, but I decided against it. These outsiders probably had no idea what the hell a vault was. I continued the conversation.

"If you're so bored, why don't you leave?" She let out a short chuckle.

"Me, Leave? I wish. I don't know enough to leave alone and no one else wants to go, and worst of all, my father said he would have a heart attack if something happened to me!"

I merely shrugged my shoulders and ended the conversation by saying "Shoot, I have to go. Good luck!" As much as I wanted to talk to her, I had to speak to the leader of this fine town to see if it was even okay if I was here in the first place. Maybe we'll get to continue talking later. Tandi shrugged her shoulders, and left the building.

I went over to the man who looked the most important. At the moment, it appeared to be a man who was wearing sandy brown robes. I walked over to him, and said "Hello!" He removed his hood, revealing the same tan skin tone that Tandi had. Perhaps they were related. "Greetings." The man said in a calm voice. "Your business in Shady Sands might be?" Wow. This guy was right to the point.

I calmly replied to the waiting man, "I come from a vault to the west. My people are dying of thirst, and I need a water purifier chip for them to survive." The man looked hesitant.

"A vault," he repeated. Then he glared at me. "How shall I trust you, wanderer, if you are not honest with me?" This was the exact reason I was hesitant on telling people of the vaults. I knew at least someone wouldn't understand. I tried to convince the man of my mission without giving too much away.

"No, honestly, I come from a vault!" The man relaxed again.

"Hmm… Yes, yes, yes. Then tell me of this vault." I decided to play the simple card and said, "It's a big place built into a mountain far to the west. My people have been there for the last 80 years." The man nodded, causing his earring hoops to jingle.

"Wanderer, I shall believe you . . . for now. You may enter Shady Sands, but be warned your every move will be watched." Well, at least I'm allowed to be in Shady Sands for a while. I was just about to leave the adobe house and possibly stock up on food and water as I was starving, but I looked at the leader and asked his name. "My name is Aradesh." He said, proudly. "I look after Shady Sands." I nodded in respect, and was about to walk off again, but some greater force made me stay where I was.

I asked Aradesh, "Thank you, can I…Can you tell me about the radscorpions?" I have heard a lot of talk of them around town when I first arrived. Based on the stories, one is worse than an entire pack of giant rats.

"Oh my, yes. Great packs of radscorpions are killing our herds. We don't know where they're from, and no matter how many we kill, there's always more!" Aradesh seemed completely terrified of the topic.

My only response was "Go on." He continued the story.

"And now the monsters are attacking my people! Razlo is trying to find a cure for their poison, but I'm not sure how it goes." I wanted to get on these peoples' good side, so if that meant killing a few oversized scorpions, then I'd gladly take that opportunity.

"Well, I'll help you get rid of these things!" A smile formed on his face as he got all excited. "Ummm, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Please talk to Razlo. He possesses far more information on these creatures than I." I nodded and said goodbye. He waved and said, "Please hurry and rid us of those radscorpions!" I guessed that Razlo was the doctor, and that was right next door, so I started walking there. Along the way, I was wondering what I was getting myself into.

I headed up to the doctor's office in Shady Sands. Everyone here seemed nice, yet isolated. It reminded me of the vault. Anyways, when I got to Razlo's place, he and his wife are laying there in a bed. I guess it _is_ a little late to be up. I was about to leave, when all of a sudden, his eyes opened. "Whaddaya want?" Razlo said, not even attempting to hide his annoyance. "This had better be important. Are you hurt?" The only things that hurt were my feet due to excessive walking, so I said, "No." Razlo glared at me before yelling "Then get out of here! Come back in the morning!" I guess that meant that I would have to set up camp and get a few hours of sleep.

I was going to have a long day the next morning, so I went back to Aradesh to ask where I could sleep. He told me that there was a medium sized building north of the town hall. I was to tell the guy in the back room that Aradesh said I could sleep in the guest bed. I went to the building up north, and found three guys drinking and talking like old friends. They could be for all I knew. I walked up to them and asked where the back room was. They all pointed to the left, and so I went there.

I delivered the message from Aradesh over to the man in the back, and he took me to where I was sleeping. Turns out that I was bunking with one of the three guys that were in the main hall. I met up with him. He had a leather jacket on. One sleeve was cut short while the other was long. It reminded me of a pre-war movie. "Mad Max" or something. Anyways, he was short and stocky, but had a 10mm pistol strapped to his side. It looked just like the one that I had. He had a combat knife in a side sheath. He had a bit of stubble growing beneath his lip, and his long messy dark hair was all knotted up. He looked like a mercenary, or maybe just a caravan guard. We were lying in bed. I got the top bunk, and he got the bottom. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to sleep, he spoke up. "Hey, uh… Stranger. I heard you're new here. What's your name?" I was caught off guard by the question a little. As far as I was concerned, the man was asleep. I stammered a bit, mostly to show that I was awake. "I'm Anthony." I could tell that if he could shake my hand from where we were at, he would. "Good to meet you, Anthony. I'm Ian." It seemed like a nice name. I decided to have a little chit-chat with him. "I'd like to know more about this place. Can you help?" He yawned before saying, "I was a guard for the merchants of the Hub. However, I was shot during a raid by bandits." He took a swill of the beer he kept at his bedside and made a relieved sigh before continuing. "I've been staying here, since the people have helped me recover. Still, my knowledge of the outside world and my experience make me useful here. Shady Sands is my home now. Occasionally, I even get to visit Junktown or the Hub to do some trading, since I'm the only person here who has ever really left town." I nodded at the ex-guard's story. He seemed like someone that could take care of himself in the wasteland, and could pull his own weight in manual labor. I think I liked this guy. He seemed nice and everything, so why not have him travel with me? It's only a matter of convincing him to come along. But first things first… "Sorry to hear about your injury." I could tell that Ian was shrugging. "Thanks. It's been healing up well, thanks to Razlo." I wanted to know a bit more about the raiders and radscorpions… After all, you never know when a raider will attack, and I will have to go off to fight the radscorpions in the morning.

"Hey, Ian?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are the radscorpions trouble?"  
"Radscorpions are very dangerous. They have a poisonous stinger in the tail, and they are very quick. Aradesh has been trying to find a way to get rid of them. If you feel brave, you could talk to Aradesh about them."  
I was about to tell him that I already have, but figured he would shrug it off.

"Are there many bandits?"

"There are several. They come from various groups. They steal our food and occasionally shoot a few people. Seth organized the guards to help fight them off."  
Wow. Ian was very knowledgeable, but I still couldn't get it through my head that there was more than one group.  
"There are different groups? Who are they all?"  
Ian turned to his side, trying to find a good and comfortable sleeping position. "There are three groups: the Khans, the Vipers, and the Jackals. They pretty much hate each other, but they all raid Shady Sands."  
Well, this trip was going to be tougher than expected, and I expected it to be the toughest of the tough. Ah, well… Maybe I'd survive with Ian helping me out in a gunfight… that is, if we ever get in one. I guess now is the time to ask him. "Could you help me out a bit? Your experience would be useful." I could tell that Ian was thinking about it. "Hmm. Tempting offer, since this place gets boring. Tell ya what. Standard rates. 100 caps, and you've got a deal." My heart sunk. I didn't have any money on me. Damn it! Maybe he would go on different terms.

"How about a piece of the action, instead?"

"All right, I'll help you out in exchange for my share of loot."  
Yes! Success! Maybe being out here in the wastes won't be so bad… And thus, an invaluable friendship was forged. I was about the thank him, but I heard Ian snoring, so I just closed my eyes and went to sleep too.

The next morning, I woke up and relished the wonderful night I had. The first night you have in a whole week that you get to sleep in a bed is a very comfortable one. I was about to wake Ian up as well. I had to tell him of my quest for the water chip, and the current task of eliminating every radscorpion in the district, but he wasn't there. The bunk bed was empty, and the worn blanket was just on a big pile on the middle of the bed. I got up with a grunt and walked outside, ignoring the bacon and eggs waiting on the table for me. I was still in my vault suit, and by now, it was starting to smell. I really had to get some extra clothing.

As I thought of new treads I could get, Ian walked up to me, his pistol glinting in the sunlight. "Hey, sleepyhead." He said, chuckling. I made a groggy groan in response. His chuckling ceased, and he became serious. "What are we doing today, boss?" I patted my pistol that was strapped to my side, and said, "We're going to take care of those radscorpions." With a grin and a nod, my partner whipped out his firearm.

"Let's cap those sons-a-bitches."

After refilling my canteens at the local pump, we approached Razlo in his abode. He was busy cooking what looked like deep fried rat. Lovely. Anyways, we walked up to him and tapped his shoulder lightly. He whipped his head around. "Whaddaya-" he stopped after remembering who we were. "Hi, Ian." He said, turning back towards the clay brick stove. "Stranger." He said, addressing me. He seemed to ignore me, probably because of how rudely I woke him up last night. He looked at Ian and went over to a table to set it up for his breakfast. "So, Ian," He said, setting a fork down. "Is your abdomen giving you anymore problems, or are you here to ask about the weather?" Ian rubbed his arm saying, "Uh, no. We came to talk to you about the radscorpions." At the last word, Razlo stopped setting up, glared at me, then Ian, then right back to me. He sighed and removed his glasses. He was rubbing his eyes when he handed us a slip of paper straight from his pocket, yellowed from age, and torn from wear. It was crumpled, and had messy handwriting on it. I could barely make out what it said. It said "_Retrieve radscorpion tail (preferably with poison sac still attached.)_" I looked at the doctor, confused. He sighed again, and said, "It's what I want you to do for me while you're down there taking care of those damn radscorpions. If I have a radscorpion poison gland, I can reverse engineer its effects with a few chemicals in my lab, and possibly create a cure for virtually any kind of poison." I understood now, and if we can make an antidote just in case we don't completely eradicate the monsters, the people of Shady Sands can at least cure themselves in the event of an attack. I nodded in agreement. Razlo nodded back. "Good." He said, setting down a plate of fried rat (yum!) He sat himself down at the table and said, "Speak to Seth at the guard station. He's usually the one who fights the radscorpions, so he knows where their cave is. Ask him to take you there. There will be a lot of the little fuckers in there, so watch out. Also, make sure that you kill every single one of 'em." Ian and I nodded, and left the adobe house.

Ian took me to the guard station since he knew his way around more than I did. When we saw Seth, we sped up our pace a little. He greeted us with open arms. "Hey Ian! How's your stomach feel? And How about you, stranger? How are you enjoying our small community?"

I smiled at the friendly guard and said, "It's not bad. Tends to be a bit boring, but it's a lot better than being alone in the hot desert sands." Seth nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, plus, from what I hear from Aradesh, you're going to get a little excitement AND rid us of our radscorpion problems." He gestured towards the 10mm I had strapped to my waist. "It's a win/win situation, eh?" He continued, chuckling a bit. I nodded. He stopped laughing, and became serious. "Now that greetings are over, I take it that you want me to take you and Mr. Ian to the radscorpion caves?" Ian took out his 10mm pistol and gestured for me to do so too.

As soon as I took mine out, I said, "Yeah."

And so, we set off towards the radscorpion caves. It wasn't a long walk. About two minutes at the least. We finally arrived at a dark cave which stood out amongst the barren Californian sands. "We're here." Seth said with a smug grin. "Good luck, guys." He began to walk back towards Shady Sands. "You're not going to help us?" I called after him. He shook his head. "Can't. As much as I want to, I need to guard the entrance to Shady Sands. You never know when some raiders decide to pass by, y'know?" I nodded in understanding, and went, with Ian, to the caves.

The inside of the cave was damp, dark, and smelled of death. In both appearance and smell, this has got to be worse than the cave Vault 13 was built into. Ian loaded twelve bullets into his pistol, and cocked it. I did the same. "So…" Ian said, his voice echoing throughout the cave. "Before we run into any radscorpions, I have to tell to something. I-" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a quick movement, and jumped to the side, just in time to miss a radscorpion tail. Ian luckily dodged it as well. I turned to saw my opponent and aimed my pistol at it, but nearly dropped it when I saw how huge the creature standing before me was. It must've been twice as big as me. Hell, Ian and I could probably ride on one if we tamed it. Unfortunately, we had no time for that, so I fired four rounds towards it. One hit it in the leg; another in the head, while two missed and hit the cave wall behind it. The sounds of the shots fired echoed throughout the cave, more likely than not alerting every living thing in it. We had to finish this one off quickly. Ian got behind me and we began to move in unison.

Ian fired a shot, and at the same time, I felt a sharp pain in my back. I put my hand behind it to feel something thick, sticky, and wet. Blood. I shot got in the back… By Ian! "Ian!" I yelled in agony, falling to the ground. "What the hell?" Ian began to repetitively apologize as he helped me up. "Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah, that's what I wanted to tell you. My accuracy kinda sucks, so you might want to stand behind me if we ever run into trouble." Oh great, because I want to feel this every time we get in a gunfight. "Once again, sorry." He said, firing a shot towards the radscorpion to hold it off. I replaced the bullets I previously shot and cocked my gun again. I knew that he was genuinely sorry, and although a part of me wanted to tell him to leave, I knew I could think of a better solution. "Then do that! Either get in front of me when you're about to fire, or beside me!" I yelled towards him. He nodded and stood right next to me. Ian emptied a whole round towards the radscorpion. Although about six shots missed, that didn't matter because four hit it in the head, effectively killing it. I walked over to it, took out my combat knife, and got to work. I used the knife to make a small incision on the end of the tail. I reached inside, gagging in disgust. After feeling something squishy, I cut it out with the knife. Poison gland. I took one look at the bloody appendage, and with a face of disgust, I threw it into my satchel.

We continued walking through the cave, sometimes coming across a human skeleton. It sickened me to know what goes on in the wasteland, but something tells me that I didn't know the half of it. We turned a corner and saw a lone radscorpion, luckily turned with its face to the wall. Ian waited behind the wall to be on lookout for any other radscorpions, and to watch my back in case the radscorpion was alerted. I momentarily dropped my satchel, pulled out my combat knife, and began to tiptoe to the menace. I went around it, searching its backside for a weak point. Luckily, one spot was not armored with its shell. I seized the opportunity of having the element of surprise and stuck the knife into the weak point. The creature emitted a shriek of fear and pain, as it turned towards me. I let go of the knife, and fired a few rounds into its head at point blank range. While the radscorpion died, I went around it, and pulled my knife out of its back. I stuck the knife into the dirt to clean the blood off of it before picking the tail back up.

Ian walked up to me and, just as I had, he took out his knife and hacked the poison gland out of the tail. He shoved it in his jacket pocket. I questioned whether or not I should get him a bag. We continued to walk throughout the cave and into one area, where we were immediately cornered by two of the buggers. I took the left one while Ian got the right one. Ian hacked and slashed his knife like a pro at one's face, while I emptied a whole twelve bullets into the other's head. When both of the radscorpions inevitably died, we trudged on.

We made our way through radscorpion after radscorpion, gunning down any of the fuckers standing in our way. By the time that we had nailed about fifteen radscorpions, we were getting tired, and were almost out of ammo. We had reached the end of the cave to find the biggest radscorpion I had ever seen out of the fifteen we had fought and killed so far. Before either of us could react, its tail shot out at a lightning quick movement, nailing me in the leg. I was immobilized from the fear, pain, and poison now shooting through my veins, and was in complete agony. Then I began to feel very sick. I reached into my satchel, and fished around for a stimpak. Ian recovered from the fall after the tail had flung the poor man into a wall. He picked up his pistol, and began dashing to where I was at. Unfortunately, so was the radscorpion. It began scuttling towards me and began to lower its jaws towards my feet. I had just jammed the stimpak syringe and emptied its contents into me. It had felt good, but the pain from the poison was still there, although a few of my wounds had closed up like magic. I had just noticed the giant radscorpion standing at my feet, and reached for my gun, but it was out of my reach. I looked to Ian, who was dashing like mad. He wasn't going to get here in time. "Ian!" I yelled weakly, as the corners of my vision began to fade. "Fire the gun! Take a leap of faith! I trust you!" Although, I didn't fully trust him, I wanted to assure him I'd be alright the best I could. Ian nodded, and raised his firearm. A single bullet flew out of it as he pulled the trigger. It seemed as if everything was in slow motion. The bullet narrowly whizzed past me, and struck the radscorpion in the eye. It screamed in pain as it stepped back from me, just as it was about to turn my feet into a brunch. I crawled over to my gun and grabbed it. I fired the last of my bullets into its head, and as I watched it die, my vision finally faded as I passed out. The last thing I heard was Ian calling my name.

I woke up some time later, I didn't know how many hours had passed, but the room was dark, and the air was chilled. My guess was that I was passed out all day. I noticed that I was only wearing my underwear and my Pip-boy. I also had bandages wrapped around my stomach with a patch on my back—presumably, from where Ian shot me on accident. My vision was still a little blurry, but I noticed that I was in Razlo's place. I don't know how I ended up here, but I remembered killing the last radscorpion. At least that was out of the way, and the citizens of Shady Sands shouldn't have to deal with the buggers anymore. I propped myself up on my arms, and as I did so, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder blade. I groaned in pain, and soon afterwards, Razlo came into the room with Ian right behind him. Ian had the most broken and scared look in his eyes until he saw me. His eyes were then filled with joy as he gave me the biggest smile I'd ever seen from him. "I thought you were a goner," was all he said.

I smiled too, and said weakly, "Me too." Razlo took out a stimpak and jammed it into my arm. After he emptied the syringe, he gave me a cup filled with a thick, brown liquid. It looked and smelled revolting.

"Drink this." He said, not looking at me. "It may smell bad, but at least you will be the first to drink the prototype antidote that I have whipped up. Yay you." He added, sarcastically. I drank the liquid, and then winced from the terrible taste.

"What happened?" I asked, setting the cup down on the bedside table. Ian sat himself down on a chair beside the bed.

"Well," he said, recalling the events after I passed out. "It went a little like this…"

**Flashback (Ian's PoV)**

Anthony slumped over, and I immediately knew he passed out. The radscorpion was dead, so there was no more worry of it getting to him before I did, at least. After the initial shock settled of me actually hitting my target back there during the fight, I began to run, as I had just remembered that the poison from that bastard's initial strike was shooting through my friend's veins. I sprinted over to Anthony's unconscious body, and pressed my ear to his chest to make sure he was alright. His heart was beating fast. I would really have to run if he was to survive. I didn't know what to do, but I knew one thing—I had to get him some medical attention… Stat! I bent down, and scooped my partner up into my arms, resting one arm behind the neck to support his head, while the other rested on the back of his knees to support his lower body. He really wasn't that heavy, so, I began to run out of the radscorpion caves as soon as I picked up our equipment and the two radscorpion tails that we had collected.

Once I escaped the cave, I started to dash towards Shady Sands. I made it there in a minute or so. My feet were tired, but I didn't care. I had to save my best friend. As soon as I got to Shady Sands, I was greeted by Seth. He looked as worried as I was. "What happened? Is he going to be okay? Did you cap all of the radscorpions?" Endless questions flowed from his mouth while I began to carry Anthony to Razlo's house.

My only response was, "I'll tell you when Anthony gets the medical attention he needs." Seth nodded in agreement, and followed me to Razlo's.

As soon as we got there, we saw Razlo sitting at his desk, reading medical exams. He looked at me, and then lowered his glasses to look at Anthony, still limp in my arms. He got up from behind his desk, and took his glasses off, placing them in his pocket. "Another victim to a radscorpion sting?" He asked, grimly. I nodded. He sighed before saying, "Well, there's not much I can do unless I have an antidote—which I don't." At the last word, I emptied the glands out of Anthony's bag. Razlo's eyes widened in amazement as did Seth's. "Yeah." The doctor said, still amazed and at a loss for words. "I can make an antidote out of those. Hell, I could make enough vials of antidote to cure the population of Junktown with those."

I rested Anthony on one of Razlo's beds and followed Razlo to his lab. Razlo took a knife, and poked a hole in the poison sac of the gland. Poison started to seep out. Razlo quickly mixed some chemicals from labeled vials in a flask, and then put it over a Bunsen burner. He ignited a gas flame under the Bunsen burner, and poured the contents of the radscorpion poison sac into it. The liquid became blood-thick, and turned a sickly brown color. After cooking it for a few seconds, he took the Bunsen burner off of the lab stove, and poured the liquid into a vial.

Razlo led me back out into the main room where I saw Seth watching over Anthony. He looked noticeably worse than before. I had hoped we weren't too late. Razlo examined Anthony for a while before muttering a bit to himself. "He's already about as bad as your brother is, Seth." Seth winced at the mention of the mention of Jarvis, his younger brother. Jarvis had gotten stung in the last radscorpion raid on Shady Sands. He wasn't stung as bad as Anthony, but eventually, if we don't do something, the poison will kill him, as it will Anthony. Razlo took out the vial and an empty syringe. He poked the needle of the syringe into the vial, and extracted the thick liquid from it. Razlo then jammed the syringe filled with antidote into Anthony, and then ejected the antidote into his veins. He then turned to Jarvis, and did the same. "Luckily," the doctor said, reaching into Anthony's satchel for a stimpak. "The stinger didn't hit any major arteries. If it did, your friend here would be fucked." I winced at the thought of Anthony dying. I had just met this guy, and he was already my friend. He entrusted his life with me. I didn't want him to die so soon.

I noticed that sweat was dripping from Anthony's forehead. Perhaps it was a side effect of the antidote. Razlo followed my stare, and began to take Anthony's blue jumpsuit off. I wondered what that was for anyways, and where he got that weird mini-computer on his wrist. What was with the number, 13 on the back? Maybe I'll ask him this when he gets up… If he gets up. Once Razlo got the jumpsuit off, he threw it with his pile of clothes to be washed. Razlo and I noticed some huge cuts on his stomach, and I helped him wrap some bandages around my friend's abdomen.

After Razlo did all he could do, he told me to sit and wait for the results. He told me that, as usual, his services were free. I thanked him, and then sat myself down next to Seth in the main room. Seth looked at me with a look that said, "Will you answer my questions, now?" I gave Seth a smug grin, and said, "Do you have any questions?"

Seth nodded, and said, "Yeah. How did he get poisoned?" I looked back on how he got stung, when the tail came crashing down on us, I was flung into a wall, while Anthony got nailed in the leg.

"The fucker stung him in the leg," was my response.

Seth asked another one, "Do you think he's going to be alright?" I sighed heavily, and looked at him.

"I don't know," I said. "I honestly don't know."

"Did you nail all the radscorpions?"

I nodded before saying, "Yep. Each and every one of 'em." Seth gave me a huge smile despite this sad moment.

"Well, at least one good thing came out of this." I knew he was trying to cheer me up, but it wasn't working. He noticed this, and said, "Well, are you going to be okay?" I nodded, and he immediately got up. "I have to go back to my post, but I will tell Aradesh of you and Anthony's brave deed. You two shall be recognized as heroes in Shady Sands." I nodded as thanks, and as soon as he left, I picked up a pre-war magazine and began to read it. It was about the pre-war suburbs. Pretty boring, almost boring enough to put me to sleep.

Some time of awkward silenced passed before Razlo walked over to me and held a cigarette packet out towards me, offering me one. I took the whole pack and could immediately tell that he was about to yell at me, before he got up to get us some drinks.

I heard him mutter, "Ah, screw it." When he came back with the drinks, he tossed me my favorite brand of firewater. Although all alcohols out in the wasteland were warm and flat, this was the best, in my opinion. I drank about half a bottle before I fell asleep, cigarette hanging out of my mouth.

Razlo woke me up a few hours later, and it was nighttime. He seemed excited. He began to whisper yell. "Ian! Your friend! He's alive! I heard him groaning! Come on!" I had just realized the cigarette was still in my mouth, and although it was burned out, I could still feel myself inhaling the smoke, while my breath faintly tasted of alcohol. He led me to Anthony's room, and there, I saw him, alive and well. For one moment of my life, the troubles of a rough world were put aside.

**End flashback (Back to Anthony's PoV)**

My eyes widened in shock. Ian cared about me enough to not give up on me until I woke up. I looked at Ian, and he looked at me. We both knew that we were destined to travel with each other until the end, as that was what best friends do. I sat up, pivoted my legs to the side of my bed, and stood up. I felt great, seeing as I was recently detoxified. I could tell that Razlo was hesitant on me standing up so soon, but he simply shrugged himself off, and walked off to his office.

"Thank you, Razlo!" I called in a cheerful voice.

"Mhmm," he mumbled from his office. Ian and I grabbed our stuff, and walked out of the house.

When Ian and I got to the town center of Shady Sands, we got looks of shock and awe. I seemed to be getting a lot of those lately. Once Ian and I made our way through the large crowd of people, we got to the town hall to speak to Aradesh. There, we ran into Tandi again. She ran up to me and gave me a huge hug on sight.

"Anthony! Everyone knows of the radscorpion elimination campaign! I can't believe you almost died trying to kill off the radscorpions." I grinned at the young girl.

"Trying? More like 'We completely kicked their asses!'" She smiled a bit, and then hugged Ian. "Ian, you put yourself in just as much danger to save Anthony. Thank you!" He smiled.

"Thank you, Tandi. We need to speak to Aradesh." Tandi nodded in understanding.

"My dad's not here right now. He went to visit Katrina at the guard station to talk to her about something." My eyes widened.

"You never told me Aradesh was your dad!" Tandi shrugged

"You didn't ask, now did you?" I shrugged back.

"I guess not." Tandi gave us a smile before leaving the town hall. Right at that moment, Aradesh walked in, and he looked pleased.

"Boys! I cannot thank you enough for all you've done for this humble settlement. We are all in your debt. If there's anything you need during your stay here, consider it yours." I held up my torn satchel.

"We would like you to have your finest craftsmen to weave us two new carrying bags, please." Aradesh nodded and called for his secretary. He whispered a few things into her ear, and turned back to us.

"It shall be done." Ian and I nodded at thanks. I had just remembered that we had used up all of our ammo in the radscorpion caves.

"Aradesh," I said. "Ian and I seem to have used up all of our ammo in the radscorpion raid. Would you mind placing any spare bullets you have into our bags—preferably 10mm? It doesn't matter if it's AP or FMJ" Aradesh nodded again, still smiling.

"Anything else?" I thought for a moment. This could be the opportunity to live like a king while I'm out here. I asked for some fresh water to store in my canteens, some dried and salted foods, and two bedrolls, hoping that I wasn't asking for too much. Aradesh nodded once more and said, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes… Your wish is my command." He chuckled for a second. Just as Ian and I received our bags, Seth ran in.

"Wait!" he yelled, breathing heavily. "I just… Wanted to uhh… Thank you for saving my brother, guys. If you hadn't brought the redscorpion poison glands, well…" Tears welled up in his eyes at the mere thought of it. "I know that it isn't much, but here's some caps, a few stimpaks, and a coil of rope." He dumped the handful of supplies into my bag. "Just remember that your deeds here are priceless. We here at Shady Sands could never thank you enough."

Ian and I had decided on celebrating our victory along with everyone else in Shady Sands. About midway through the party, I checked my Pip-boy calendar, and saw how many days had passed. I updated my "Things to do" note, and realized that Ian and I would have to leave eventually. Ian set his bottle of alcohol down on the table that we were sitting at, noticing that I was looking at my Pip-Boy.

"What is that thing, anyways?" he said, pointing at my wrist. "Forget the mini-computer on your wrist. What's the jumpsuit for? And Why does it say 13? On top of that, where are we going? What is your destination?" The man fired questions at me left and right. I guess his curiosity had built up since we've met, and now that we can finally relax, he wants answers.

"Well…" I said, searching for the right words. "I come from a vault out west… It's about a five-day's walk from here. It protected my grandparents from the bombs when they fell 80 years ago. Since it's Vault number 13, the standard dress code includes a Vault-Tec approved jumpsuit with the number '13' on the back. As for the Pip-Boy, this little computer has a clock, calendar, map, notepad… You name it. As for my mission, well…" As quickly and as accurately as I could, I told him about the water chip and Vault 15, which is far to the east. Ian nodded, intrigued.

With a grin, he said, "Well then, let's head out tomorrow. Tonight, we shall party. Cheers!" He brought his beer glass up to mine and we both took a swill of our drinks.

The next morning, I told Ian that it was time to pack our bags and say goodbye to everyone. Once we finished packing our equipment into our new backpacks, we said our goodbyes, giving an especially long goodbye to Aradesh, Tandi, and Razlo. Then, we passed the entrance to Shady Sands for the last time in a long time. Ian and I were just getting started…

…

_**A/N: I rewrote some of this for multiple reasons, one being that I felt like I was making Ian out to be some sort of crybaby, and another was that I felt the chapters should be longer. So, from here on out, every chapter will transition to the next when the group goes into a new settlement or town. **_


	3. Chapter 2: Vault 15

**Chapter 2: Vault 15—December 12****th****, 2161**

After a long day of trekking, Ian's feet started to hurt. I had gotten used to the constant walking and foot blisters by now, so I had to slow my pace for Ian. Despite that, we were making good time. Maybe we'd find a water chip in Vault 15, bring it back without any difficulties, and then I could return home. Who knows? Maybe Ian could stay in the vault with us. I personally have already had enough adventure for a lifetime.

I woke up the next morning with Ian curled up next to me in a sleeping bag. Our fire from the night before seemed to have just burned out recently, given that the smoke slowly rose from the charred logs. I picked up my satchel, collected all of our belongings, and woke Ian up.

"Hmm, what?" he muttered, slowly waking up from his slumber.

"Sleep well, I'll assume?" I replied, gently nudging him with my foot. I finished packing and we continued our long hike towards Vault 15. It was the middle of December, and I didn't see any snow. There never was any snow. Not since the war. California hardly got it even then, but nowadays, I'd assume the rest of the world doesn't either. We continued our long, tedious walk towards our destination.

Midway through the day, we finally made decent conversation. Ian spoke up.

"You know, a Chryslus Highwayman would be _really_ helpful right now."

I laughed, despite not knowing what a Chryslus was. I had to assume it was some vehicle. We made camp for the second night. We were making good time.

On the third day, December 15th, we finally reached Vault 15 (or at least, according to my map). There stood a small broken-down shack in front of us. Ian approached it and rapped on the door three times with his knuckles before kicking it down. Shooting him a surprised look, he gave a sheepish grin and shrugged.

"Mum always told me to knock first." Laughing at his joke, we peeked inside the shack only to find a ladder leading into the ground. Surely, this was our sister vault, Vault 15. Lowering ourselves into the darkness below, we ended up in a cave filled with rats. They didn't give us too much trouble, and we ended up walking right past them. The cave was dark, so I snapped one of the flares and held it in my one hand with my pistol in the other. Ian followed close behind, unaware of the rats nibbling on his boot. The gear-shaped vault door which I had seen on Vault 13 was unbolted and rusty, on the ground a few feet from the vault opening. Yup, this was definitely Vault 15. The whole vault was dark and nearly all of it was a dirty brown color from the rust. As we maneuvered deeper towards the vault, a faint musty smell grew stronger. I searched a nearby locker just outside of the vault's entrance doors, which contained a handful of flares. Ian took the honor of taking them and placing them in my bag. Suddenly, I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye and quickly turned towards it just in time to get thrown back into a wall. While I was subdued, Ian was loading clips into the beast's head until it collapsed and died. Getting up, I could feel my heart pounding. "Wh… What was… What the hell was that?!" I shouted loud enough for the vault to echo. Ian looked at the fresh corpse.

"Huh… Looks like a mole rat of some kind. Radiation must've worked wonders for their size." Leaning down to collect myself, I eventually picked myself up and went towards the medical room, opening a cabinet. I took out the handful of stimpaks and first-aid kit that were crammed into the cabinet. You could never be too safe. Ian picked up the flare that I dropped when the mole rat attacked me, and dropped it down a nearby busted elevator shaft. We both listened for a noise. About two seconds later, a "clack" was heard, and a faint light was visible down in the dark shaft, so I tied the rope that Seth gave me onto a nearby tile, and climbed down the rope with Ian following close behind.

Once we had reached the second floor, I picked up the flare and began to look around again. Sure enough, there was another elevator shaft, but this one also required a rope to climb down. We used all of the rope that Seth gave us, so we had no choice but to search the second floor for another coil of rope, or at least something to climb down. Long minutes of traversing passed, but we couldn't find anything other than spare bullets and overgrown rodents (which weren't threats, more like nuisances). Ian checked a small room and called for me. "Hey, Anthony! I found a locker, and they might have stuff in it. Help me pry the door off!" So, I took a metal bar and jammed it into the door. Due to the amount of rust already settled on the door, it was pretty easy to open. Inside was a coil of rope and a few articles of clothing—Namely, a leather jacket much like the one that Ian wore, black leather pants, a black t-shirt, and a pair of black boots. At that point, I had already assumed that leather was fairly popular in the wasteland. Ian grinned from ear to ear, giving me a nod. "Go ahead" he said. "Try it on".

After pulling the leather boots on, I sat up in my new outfit. If you asked me, I thought I looked pretty slick, and the clothes fit me decently, so I folded up my vault jumpsuit (which was getting pretty worn down by now), stuffed it into my bag, and continued on our trek. By the time I had gotten into the leather get-up, Ian had already tied the coil of rope to a tile on the elevator shaft much like I had with the one that Seth had given us. This time, Ian was the first to climb down the rope with me in tow.

After reaching the third floor of the abandoned bunker, we immediately noticed that it was _crawling _with more giant rats and pig-rats than the population of Vault 13. As I reloaded my pistol, Ian twirled out his knife and jammed it through the skull of an incoming pig rat. Hacking and slashing our way through the sea of beasts, we ran into a large room only to find more of the damned vermin and a small box of ammo. After leaving the room, Ian spoke up. "Let's split up. We'll get more ground covered that way." We gave each other a quick agreeing nod and traded off some flares before we went our separate ways. I came into a room with two lockers. As I was about to shoot the lock on the door of the first one, I felt a sense of déjà vu while a blur in the corner of my eye knocked me to the ground and out the doorway. Scrambling to grab the light that I had dropped, I saw that the thing that attacked me was yet another giant mole rat. Luckily, my loaded pistol was still in my hand, and so I fired a couple of bullets in its direction. It growled a bit, so I had assumed that at least one of the shots hit, however I heard a "ping" or two coming from the wall behind it, indicating that some of my shots had missed. The beast crawled towards me at a surprising pace, but just as it was about to gnaw my legs off, I grabbed my knife and stuck my hand into the creature's mouth, jamming the knife into its brain. The monster's mouth snapped shut with my arm still inside it, causing me to scream in pain. Ian heard my cry and came running to my aid. Using all of his strength to pry the mole rat's mouth open, he took a quick look at my right arm. Thank god I was left-handed. "Hmm…" he muttered, opening his first-aid kit. "You seem to have no broken bones, but…" He took his finger and pointed to some deep wounds that ran up and down between my wrist and my elbow. "There are some deep bite marks here and here" he said, opening up the first-aid kit and taking out some rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, and a roll of gauze wrap. After fixing me up, he helped me to my feet and looked towards the room that he was just in with a sigh. "I didn't find anything except some old broken computers. What about you?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"Maybe. There were some lockers in the room that I was exploring, but sadly Tiny here got a bit hungry before I could open them" I said, gesturing to the dead mole rat. "Thanks for that, by the way."

My friend smiled at me and said happily, "That's what friends are for." We walked back into the room and shot the lock off of the first locker, causing the door to fall off its hinges. Inside was an electronic explosive and a few grenades. I'd figured if nothing else, I can at least use these explosives to clear out a cave-in if some rocks decided to collapse in front of a door or something. By the time I was done stuffing the explosives into my bag, Ian already had the second door off, pulling a sub-machine gun out of the locker. The ex-guard began to grin sadistically. "Hmm… A 10mm SMG…" He began to analyze the gun as if he was an expert. "This should be able to use our standard 10mm rounds; so basically, this is just like what we have, 'cept it has a rapid-fire function. This could prove useful." Wow… Ian _really_ knew his guns. Surprisingly, he turned the gun over to me. I began to stutter.

"Uh… Why are you giving me this, Ian?"

Ignoring my question, he responded, "Hand me your pistol. I'll use two pistols, and you can use the SMG." I gave him a horrified look.

"Are you nuts? I can't shoot to save my life!"

At this he laughed and responded, "Neither can I, but you're a far better shot than me!" We shared a laughed and agreed that his set-up was a good idea. However, what we saw in the next room put us in a shitty mood for the rest of the day.

There, in the doorway, was a massive mountain of rocks and tiles. There was no way in hell that we could ever get into the main room of the vault even with the explosives that we had collected earlier. The rest of this vault was completely buried in rubble. "God dammit!" I yelled, falling to my knees. Ian gave me a solemn look and sat beside me as I pounded the ground angrily.

"Look," he said. "There must be a water chip _somewhere_ in California. Don't worry, Anthony. We'll find what you're looking for." He gave me a smile to boost my spirits. "Now come on," he said, standing back up. "My expertise in travelling gives me a few places that I know of that we can start searching—Namely, The Hub and Junktown. Let's just return to Shady Sands for a few days to relax, and then we can visit Junktown. Sound good?" I gave him a nod and stood back up. It was a quiet climb back up to the surface, but by the time we got outside the shack that led to this dreadful vault, it was already dark, so we set up our bedrolls inside the shack and slept for the night.

After packing up, we left the very next morning and started walking back towards Shady Sands. Ian didn't complain about his feet hurting as much as he used to, so that was a good sign. The first night on the way back went by uneventful, but on the second night, we ran into a caravan with several armed guards. As I was about to go talk to the Asian trader, whose name was apparently Duc, I heard one of the guards shout towards Ian.

"Yo, Ian! What's up, man? It's been a while."

Ian looked in the direction of the voice and waved, calling back, "How've you been, Tim? How's the wife and family?" As Ian and Tim the guard were talking, I was busy trying to haggle Duc for a deal on stimpaks, to which he eventually caved. Parting ways, Ian and I continued on our journey west until we saw the walls of Shady Sands off in the distance.

**...**

**_A/N: More or less, this is where I began to continue writing. So, yeah. New content! Wooo! ._._**


	4. Chapter 3: Raiders

**Chapter 3: Raiders—December 18****th****, 2161**

As we holstered our weapons at the entrance of Shady Sands, a familiar face ran up to us. It was Seth, the leader of the guards. For some reason, he looked hysterical and out of breath. The boy wasted no time in explaining, grabbing onto Ian's shoulder for support. Obviously, something bad had happened in our absence.

"Thank Dharma you're here, wanderer! My girl…" He cut himself off, with a light blush forming on his dark face. "Uh… Tandi, Aredesh's daughter, has been kidnapped. We believe the raiders have her." My heart sunk. No… Not Tandi… Ian appeared shocked and angered at himself for some reason. My comrade fell to his knees and punched the cracked and dry ground hard.

"Damn..." he muttered. "I should've been there to protect her…" Before I could respond, he answered Seth for me. "Where are these raiders?" Ian asked darkly.

Seth looked to Ian and spoke with a tear-strewn face. "They're somewhere in the southwest. Please hurry; I don't know what they'll do to her." Ian grabbed the young man by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. Personally, I didn't like to think about that either.  
"Don't worry, Seth. We'll get Tandi back, right Anthony?" I gave Ian an affirmative nod to confirm his promise. Seth looked at me, then back to Ian before giving us a small smile.

"Thank you, guys." He said quietly. "Now hurry!"

The two of us turned and ran off into the desert towards the southwest. Damn, I really hoped that Tandi was okay. If those raider bastards had done anything to her, one way or another, they would pay.

Once we got to the camp in the late afternoon, upon seeing how many raiders there were, I immediately ruled out the option of running in with our guns a-blazing, and Ian saw that too and quickly put his gun in his holster—though, he didn't turn the safety on like he usually did. I followed suit and thought of a different solution since most of the raiders were already glaring at us. We walked casually yet cautiously to the large building in the middle of the camp. Perhaps we could sneak in through the back, find Tandi, and slip away? Perhaps the raiders could be persuaded? There was limited availability in our options, so I decided that diplomacy would be our strategy for today. Ian and I waltzed into the back room where there, sitting on a cooler, was a rather large and muscular man in a shiny metal armor that glinted in the sunlight. He had a bottle of whiskey on the table sitting next to him with two beautiful women that wore torn and dirty rags for clothes. They looked absolutely terrified as he tapped his .44 desert eagle on his boot, eying us suspiciously. He took a hit from the cigarette hanging from his mouth and stared me straight in the eyes, watching me like a hawk.

"What do you want?" he asked, his voice showing no concern. Instantly, time froze as I thought of what I should say. Should I start formally? Should I talk tough? Should I be cunning and use trickery? Should I challenge him one-on one? I began to quickly eliminate the options in my head as I could feel his patience wearing. I would _never_ be able to fight him one-on-one… Or at least, not in my current state. If I acted tough, he'd probably challenge me and shoot me on the spot. If I threatened him, then that's the same deal… Hmm… Maybe… A rough voice snapped me out of my trance. "Hello? Are you fucking deaf? I said, what do you want?" The man looked at his magnum, then back at me.

Nervously, I answered, "Uh, hi. I'm Anthony. And you are?" The brute took his firearm off of safety. I could tell that I was getting on their nerves.

"What's it to ya? My name's Garl. I lead this fine establishment. Now, what the fuck do you want, dumbass?!" He raised his voice a bit, indicating that I was wasting his time. With every word that he said, the two girls at his side cringed, as if he was about to hit them. It sickened me to the very core. I coughed in nervousness a bit, but then stood tall, casting a dark shadow over him.

"I want you to set the girl from Shady Sands free". Ian stared at me after hearing my bold statement. Garl merely looked at me with a curious look of admiration. He chuckled.  
"Hah! No one's talked to me like that in years… And lived." I gulped at the last part, but kept my straight face and still stood tall. "Though…" he continued, rubbing the back of his neck. "I admire your courage, Anthony. Now what do you wish to offer for this girl?" Hmm? He hadn't shot me? Oh, well, that's all that matters. Now, we were negotiating over Tandi. I suppose I could offer him some of my supplies, but then I decided against it and took a deep breath before concocting the best lie that I could in my head.

"I represent a threat that you can't even understand. Do you really want to risk our wrath?" I looked as menacing as I could, and Ian quickly caught on, glaring at Garl. Garl blinked a bit in surprise, but then started to rub the stubble on his chin, looking at me, then at Ian (possibly for signs of weakness). Then he looked towards the door, and then at the attractive young female raider in leather armor that stood next to him.

"Gwen…" He finally said, pointing to the door. "Release the girl." I actually did it! Tandi was free. However, we weren't out of the woods yet as he turned back to face me and Ian, flicking his cigarette away. "Hmm… For some reason, I believe you… You may take the girl, but do not return unless you seek _our_ wrath." I nodded, almost positive that we would never have any reason to see these gruesome bastards again. With that, Gwen returned, opening the door. Behind her, Tandi ran in. She took one look at me and gave me a hug, then turned to Ian and followed suit.

Looking into my eyes, she turned towards the exit door and whispered, "Let's get outta here."

After leaving the camp, I could tell that she was tired, so I told her to stop. With a questioning look on her face, she stopped walking and looked at me. I gently picked her up in my arms much like how Ian had when he carried me out of the radscorpion caves. "You need your rest. We'll carry you home." The young girl smiled gently and kissed my cheek.

"Thank you so much," she said, falling asleep into my arms.

The walk back to Shady Sands was quiet and not extremely long. As soon as Tandi had woken up, the walls of the small community came into view, and she told me to put her down. Once her feet hit the ground, she sprinted towards the guard station (most likely to greet Seth and tell him that she was okay). When Ian and I reached the entrance of Shady Sands, Seth ran over to us with a big grin on his face.

"Thank you so much, you two… The community cannot thank you both enough." I smiled at the guard and told him that it was nothing. "If you don't mind me asking…" he said. I figured this was coming. "How did you free her? Did you beat the shit out of their shithead leader, Garl? Did you shoot up the whole camp? Did you silently assassinate everyone in their sleep?" He kept rambling on as his imagination got the better of him.

"Actually," I said, interrupting his fantasies of me and Ian singlehandedly wiping out the raiders. "We just asked for her." His smile dropped into a look of surprise.

"Wait, that works?!" He was shocked above anything else. Shrugging nonchalantly, I looked at him.

"Was I not supposed to?"

"I dunno, we never really thought to try that…" Leaving the confused guard to undoubtedly rewrite his offensive strategies, I went over to the town hall with Ian close behind. Upon walking into the door, I nearly bumped into Tandi who, much like she was when we first met was on her way out the door. She gave me a huge grin.

"Hi!" She said, looking thrilled, yet speaking solemnly. "I was actually looking for you just now. I was afraid that you were gone, and I wasn't gonna get a chance to thank you for rescuing me." Her solemn tone disappeared only to be replaced by an ecstatic one instead. "Aw! That was great!" Wait, what? My eyes nearly popped out of my head. Did I hear her correctly? She actually _enjoyed_ being kidnapped by murderous rapists? Was she a masochist or something? "Action… adventure…" she continued, trailing off. "Anyway, if there's anything that I can do for you, you just ask!"

I was about to ask her for some supplies and a room for the night, but since Shady Sands had already done so much for me, I couldn't possibly ask for more, so I responded "No thank you. I've gotta get going anyways." She looked visibly upset.

"Well… Thanks for talking. We don't get many strangers here, so it's always good to talk to new people. Well… Thanks again. See ya!" The girl gave us a smile and turned back into the house, heading towards what I had assumed was her room.

Walking into the house, we spotted Aredesh, who ran up to us. He tossed a leather bag full of Nuka-Cola bottle caps into my open hand unexpectedly.

"We will be forever in your debt for your courage and your bravery, wanderer. Here is your reward." I nodded as thanks and said my goodbye to him. Just as I turned around, Aredesh spoke up with a quote that I would remember for the rest of my life. _"Until we meet again, my friend. May the water you find in the desert not shine at you in the dark."_

As Ian and I said our final goodbyes to everyone, we walked off back into the wastes, satisfied with our actions of late.

...

_**A/N: This was pretty much a filler chapter, but I felt this quest had to be included as this isn't the last we'll be seeing of Garl and his gang. This will also come into play with Ian's backstory a bit. :) Next chapter, "Junktown" is super long! Stay tuned! :D**_


	5. Chapter 4: Junktown

**Chapter 4: Junktown—December 21****st****, 2161**

For the first time in our travels, Ian was in front of me for once. He led me deep southwest. Christmas was going to come and go uneventfully for us, but I was willing to bet that back in the safety of Vault 13, they were all getting ready to celebrate it despite their lack of water. With a sigh, I finally realized how much I missed the vault. Christmas was the first day that I had actually cried over being homesick. A few days later—three to be exact, we made it to the entrance of a rather large-looking city in the middle of the night. There was a low smoky haze over the town, and bits and pieces of wrecked cars and other useless junk made up the structures and walls. I guess this is where Junktown had gotten its name. Before we could take two steps into the city, a burly guard holding a desert eagle, much like the one that Garl had, stopped us, gesturing to our guns.

"You'd better put that away. Junktown is a friendly place, friend, and we plan to keep it that way." Ian and I quickly holstered our firearms.

I replied, "Sounds fair. By the way, what is the local law regarding weapons?" I needed to know in case we got into a bit of a scuffle. The guard finally gave us a smile, tapping some ashes off of his lit cigarette. I never really understand what was so great about smoking, but I didn't question it.

"Good you asked." He took a hit off his cigarette, staring into the night sky. "Weapons can't be drawn unless in self-defense. If you start a fight, it's your fault. Other than that, you have the right to go around armed. Just don't pull a knife or a gun unless you have a just cause." The guard continued to stand there, looking at us. I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Uh, so… can we go in?" He looked at me and coughed, probably from the cigarette.

"Sorry. Gates are closed at night. Come back in the morning." I turned to look at Ian, and all he could do was look at me and shrug. I tried again.

"I'm sorry sir, but I would like to enter your town. You can see that I would cause no harm." I gave the large man a look of sincerity, and he eyed me suspiciously a bit, which reminded me of Garl. He sighed, and looked around as if checking to see that no one was watching our interaction.

"Well I shouldn't do this…" he muttered. After seeing that, in fact, no one was watching, he stepped to the side. We thanked him and were about to walk through the trash-strewn gate, but he called after us.

"Come on in. You seem like nice enough people, but don't make any trouble." Ian and I nodded as we turned back toward the city. We only took two steps before we accidentally walked right into an officer, who wielded a double-barrel sawed-off shotgun. He was even more ripped than the guard at the gate, and had a mustache with scars running all over his body. Oh, no… We were dead. Instead of asking who we were and why were up and about at this late hour, he grinned at us and laughed.

"Ha! I always knew Kalnor had a soft spot. What can I do for you boys? I'm Lars, the chief of police in this fine establishment!" Ian and I looked at each other as I cautiously responded, eying the shotgun in his hands.

"Could you paint us a big picture of Junktown in our minds?" He nodded.

"Certainly. Me and my men here work for Killian Darkwater. We try to keep some order in this town and deal with all the murderers, thieves, and other scumbags who come in from the desert. If you want my advice, you'll also stay away from Gizmo. That fathead runs a crooked operation, but we just haven't been able to prove anything. He and his lackeys, The Skulz, will take the fall sometime soon if Killian has anything to say about it." He spat some chewing tobacco on the ground nearby at his feet with a face of disgust at the mention of this Gizmo fellow.

I nodded as thanks and replied, "Well, it's good to know that there is someone keeping the peace around here, thanks." Lars smiled at us and let us go on our way, suggesting that we stop at the Crash House Hotel for the night. He said it was up past the general store, so we thanked him and started walking north. I was going to ask him about a water chip or any vaults in the area, but I had decided that it would be a waste of time. Ian and I took note of the hospital and general store as we passed them, noticing the other smaller buildings as well. Upon coming to the building with a large flickering neon sign that said "The Crash House Hotel", we opened the door. As soon as we entered, the cute (yet tough-looking) young woman that stood behind the counter greeted us.

"It's late. Come back again some other time." The woman went back into a room, presumably, to sleep. Ian and I groaned and walked out the door, taking sight of a man in a torn green shirt and with a wooden leg. He stood over a lit burn barrel, rubbing his hands together for warmth. There were some rusty lawn-chairs next to him, and after a few seconds, he noticed us.

"Oh hi!" he said with a sigh. "Isn't Junktown the sight for sore eyes?" I took what he just said as sarcasm, quietly nodding. "Yeah…" he said, trailing off. "You know, I've never seen you boys from around here. Tell you what; do you wanna take a nap by this campfire?" Ian and I looked at each other, then back at him and shrugged, walking over to the chairs and sitting down in them. The old man smiled at us. "Goodnight" was the last word that I had heard before falling comfortably asleep. We awoke around noon, well-rested and ready to do a bit more travelling. Ian said that he was running out of food, and admittedly, so was I. So, we headed south a bit and walked into the general store. There stood a lone man with guards stationed at every corner inside and out of the store. He had short graying hair, a 5 o'clock shadow, and a clean white coat. There was a magnum at his side, and he welcomed us in. His voice had a slight southern touch to it.

"Can I help you?" He said, shifting his eyes between Ian and I respectively. I nodded politely and responded.

"Hello, what's your name?"

"The name's Killian. Killian Darkwater. I'm the mayor of this fine town. And who might you be?" I looked at his deep brown eyes and didn't hesitate to respond.

"My name's Anthony Breznican. I come from up north. This is Ian. He's from Shady Sands." Killian reached over and shook both of our hands.

He looked at me oddly. "North? Not much is up that way, 'cept desert and Shady Sands… You both from there?" I shook my head.

"No, I come from a vault, to the west." This comment caused Killian's friendly demeanor to go away, replacing it with a glare.

"Oh yeah, _sure_ you do. And when you were a baby, your crib was a safe." Ian tried his hardest not to laugh at Killian's joke, but failed severely. Frantically, I tried to explain to the mayor about the vaults.

"No, no! It's called a vault. It protected us from the war! It's been full of people for 80 years!" Killian stopped glaring at me and (hesitantly) continued to act friendly, laughing a bit.

"Heh… Don't feel bad. Ain't the worst story I've been told… So, what can I do for you?" I began to look around the store. It sure had a lot of stuff.

"Do you own this store?" I asked, curious. The man nodded.

"You bet! Not as big as some in The Hub, but people usually find what they're looking for. Take a look around." Ian and I began to go from table to table, looking for some new or useful supplies. I was hoping that I could get a better weapon—In case finding a water chip would prove to be harder than expected.

Suddenly, I man with dark skin and a bomber jacket waltzed into the building. He seemed like an ordinary shopper that first, so Ian and I paid him no heed, but then he pulled out a rifle and aimed it at Killian.

"Gizmo sends his regards!" the gunman shouted, firing a shot. The bullet went right through Killian's shoulder and hit the wall behind him with a loud audible "ping", causing Killian to fall to his knees in pain. Ian pulled out his two pistols, and I loaded my SMG before spraying a volley of bullets at the gunman, a few of which nailed him. One hit him in the leg while a few hit his abdomen. The would-be assassin hissed in pain before glaring and turning to face me, rifle aimed in my direction. He fired a few bullets at me, but I ducked behind the table I was standing at and reloaded. I heard him come around the corner, avoiding all of the bullets that Ian or any of the guards shot. Just as I stood up, he kicked me in the face, knocking me back. I reached for the gun that I had dropped, but he sat his boot on my stomach, putting the rifle barrel directly in front of my eyes. Just as he was about to fire and end my life, a loud "boom" was heard. The man fell off of me, and Ian and I turned to look at the source. There, Killian stood with a shotgun in-hand. He reloaded the shotgun, barking orders at his guards, then at me.

"Breznican! Shoot the bastard! Finish him!" Finish him? I looked at the helpless gunman, who had dropped his rifle. There were bullet wounds everywhere except for his head and I felt bad, watching him crawl out of a pool of his own blood. I had never taken a human life before, and I had hoped that I didn't have to.

The man took my hesitance as an advantage and got up, yelling "Dumbfuck!" Just as he was about to grab his rifle, I squeezed the grip on my SMG until my knuckles were pure white, and I pulled the trigger, shooting him multiple times. Bullets whizzed right through his shoulders and stomach, much like his first shot did to Killian. The man began to scream in agony as the final bullet from the burst sent his head flying off and causing it to land a few feet away, rolling out the door.

Oh my god… I had killed a human being… I had taken his life mercilessly. I leaned down, and much like I had done when I first killed a rat, I threw up in the middle of the store. Killian walked over to me, holding a pad on his wound. He patted me on the back, smiling before noticing the pool of vomit and gagging.

"Listen…" He said, applying pressure to the pad as Ian looted from the attempted-murderer. "Thanks for saving my life. It's a mighty brave thing to do. Now, it looks like we have a situation here. I know that Gizmo's behind this, but I need proof. You interested in helpin'?" The words of the gunman screamed in my head "Gizmo sends his regards!" Wasn't that proof enough? Well, probably not, but I'd love to help this kind man in any way that I could. Ian looked at me, and I looked at Killian. Then again, I really wasn't keen on taking another human life, so I responded "Me? What do you need me for?" He reached into a nearby cabinet and sighed, fishing around for something.

"Now, if I get proof, the people of Junktown will kick him out. Way I figure it, you'll need to either plant a bug at his place, or wear a wire and get him to confess to you. Think you can handle that?" As he said this, he pulled a few things out of the cabinet and held them out to me. I breathed heavily a bit. "Woah… Sounds kinda dangerous…" He retracted his hand with the items still in-hand.

"I'm not gonna lie to you," he said, calmly. "It _will_ be dangerous… But I'll owe you one, and Killian Darkwater _always_ repays his debts..." His voice seemed to trail off a bit at the end, making that simple sentence seem cryptic.

"What do you mean, 'pays his debts'?" He looked at me up and down with a smirk on his middle-aged face.

"I'll tell ya what. Anything you want in the store, even the most expensive, it's yours. No charge. If it's a gun, I'll give you all the ammo that you can carry. Does that sound fair?" My eyes lit up. Perhaps, a bit of espionage would be worth it. I nodded confidently, causing Killian to breathe a sigh of relief.

"All right," he muttered. "I owe you. Here's the bug and the wire tap. You let me know when it's done. And good luck." Before we left the store, the man handed me the two items and sent us on our way up to northern Junktown. The second we walked out the door, Ian handed me the dead gunman's rifle. There was a blood splatter on it from when I fired the SMG at him and shot his head off. Ian began to explain the gun.

"Turns out, this baby is a standard hunting rifle. It uses .223 caliber rounds, so here's a few that I managed to pick up in Vault 15. Here, hand me your SMG. I'll just keep my pistol and give you your pistol back as a sidearm." After trading weapons and ammo, we continued walking north.

After a few steps, Ian and I found a house with a black vicious-looking dog sitting in front of it. There was a couple standing a few feet away from the canine as it slept in front of their house. I approached the man, who appeared pretty irate. I waved to him, but all I got in response was an annoyed look.

The man, apparently named Phil, spoke up. "Mister, I would be _really _thankful if you could get rid of that damn dog!" He pointed to the animal that was lounging around at his front door. Looking at the dog, then back at the irate man, I asked him why. Phil snarled. "Because it won't let us back into the house, that's why! Now will you help or not?" I resisted the urge to punch Phil in the face for being a whiny little bitch, but I opted not to.

"Isn't it yours?" I asked him. He spat on the ground.

"It was the 'pet' of a traveler. When the traveler died, this damn dog just plopped his furry ass on my doorstep and wouldn't leave. He's been there for days." Now _that_ took some true loyalty. By now, I should be asking Ian to hold me back just to refrain from beating this douche's sorry ass, but I managed to collect myself.

"What did the traveler look like? Who was he?" Phil scratched his head trying to remember details.

"Oh, the guy was tall, dark-haired with a little graying around the edges. He was dressed in all black leather, like _that's_ a good idea in the desert." He began to laugh at his own sarcasm until he noticed that I was basically wearing what he was describing and shut his mouth, cleared his throat, and continued. "Oh, and he carried a shotgun. He had a funny accent. That dog was his constant companion. Followed him everywhere." Hmm… I had an idea based on his description, but… I dunno…

Breaking the awkward silence that had formed, I asked him again. "Who was he?"

Phil looked at me oddly and replied, "Hmm? Oh, right! I don't know. Some guy. He came from the east, he said. Like anyone could get past the dead-lands to the east." The asshole rolled his eyes before continuing. "He ran afoul with Gizmo, trying to interfere with Gizmo's business." He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously before continuing. "So, Gizmo had a couple of his boys beat him up and throw him off the casino roof. The traveler broke his damnfool neck and died. The dag was _pissed_." Looking past Phil, I spotted the dog. As if on cue, the dog glared in our direction and growled viciously, causing Phil to jump a bit before calming himself. "That's it!" he yelled, rolling up his sleeves. "I can't take that mangy mutt anymore!" He stomped over to the dog, and was about to do something drastic (probably tell it off or smack it), but he never got to. The dog jumped up as he got closer and snapped, biting Phil in the ass causing the man to run off, yelping like a pussy. The second Phil got back; he glared at me and muttered, "I hate that dog…" I shrugged my shoulders and figured I'd try my plan out now. Walking over to the dog, I slowly extended my hand.

"Err… Hey, boy!" I whispered, zipping up my black leather jacket a bit. "I know I'm not your old owner, but… I think I come pretty damn close! So, what say you? Let's travel together!" The dog looked at me funny before standing up and stretching. Phil stood and watched in surprise. My new friend panted happily as he barked and strutted in circles around me. "Do you want to go bust Gizmo, boy?" The dog growled, and then barked. "Then let's go!" After that, a new friendship was created, and Ian and I finally had another travel companion.

"So…" Ian said, scratching the dark mutt's ears. "What're you gonna name him?" I watched the dog dance around me happily.

"Hmm…" I began to mutter. "What about Dogmeat?" The dog barked happily at the idea of his name, which caused Ian to look at me with a smirk on his face.

"He seems to like that name, eh Dogmeat?" the dog barked again, causing me to laugh.

"Well, I guess that's that. His name's Dogmeat then."

After carefully tucking the tape recorder into my pocket, which didn't muffle the microphone and also made it invisible to the naked eye, the three of us walked past the large spinning neon sign that read "Gizmo's" and walked into the large casino. There were tables, slot machines, and people everywhere. I spotted a few of what I assumed were Gizmo's guards here and there. Walking past the first room, our group found a second room that was pretty much the same as the first. Lights flashed and loud sounds were heard. You could hear chips falling into the coin returns. We nudged our way past a couple and walked through the door, finding a simple office. There, sitting in a chair behind a wooden desk, was a large rotund man. Dear lord was Gizmo fatter than I had expected! Then there was a large bulky and intimidating guard standing next to him. The guard seemed to show no emotion other than anger, wore the same metal armor that Garl had on, and wielded a massive sledgehammer. I wondered just what kind of shit we were getting ourselves into.

"What do you want? I'm a busy man." The fat pig announced, detecting our presence the moment I had entered the room. Dogmeat growled, but Ian held his mouth shut for a bit before Dogmeat got the idea and shut up. I calmly and casually walked a bit closer to him to get a good recording and stuffed my hand in my pocket to hit the record button. Gizmo's guard watched me like a hawk, ready to swing his hammer if he had to.

I said calmly, "I'm here to discuss your attempt on Killian's life." The fat slug glared at me over the mention of Killian's name and ran his pudgy hand through his bald scalp.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" he snapped. This guy was onto me, I could tell… Maybe I just needed to break him.

"Oh, really?" I retorted with a sly smirk. I could hear Gizmo's heart beat faster with anticipation. Or maybe he was having a heart attack. Either way, I wouldn't be surprised, the hog.

"I don't know who you are, but I don't take kindly to strangers walking into my office and accusing me of things they know nothing about." He squeezed his large hand, and a loud pop from his knuckles was heard. Hiding my grin, I went straight for the kill.

"Hey, okay, if you don't want him dead, then fine! I'm just tryin' to be helpful." Just as I had turned to walk out the door, I heard his chair scoot out with a squeak as he stood up and reached out towards me.

"Hey, wait!" Just what I wanted to hear. I turned back around. "Really?" Gizmo cackled like the beached whale that he was before looking at his guard and smiling. "He's gonna help me?" Gizmo giggled a bit more before giving me a more serious, yet still casual, look. "What kinda help are we talking about?" Pulling out my 10mm pistol and my knife, I began to twirl them as if I was an expert.

"I was thinking maybe a knife in the back or a bullet in the head." After putting my weapons back into their holsters, I could imagine Ian breathing a sigh of relief behind me.

"Well, how can I trust you?" His voice got a bit lower. This question threw me off-guard. I needed to think quickly, but then I thought back to when I shot the head off of his previous assassin.

With a gulp, I said, "Believe me, I've been around. I've killed before." Hoping that he'd believe me, I maintained my straight face.

Gizmo thought for a bit, then looked up at me and responded with a smile, "Hmm… Alright, we can do this… but you _work_ for _me_. You'd better know that nobody _ever_ double-crosses Gizmo… And lives to talk about it." The fat lard pointed his thick finger at me as if he was training a dog. I gave him a nod and stuffed my hand back into my pocket, holding the tape recorder a bit closer to him since the next detail would be the most important.

"Of course. But first, I need to know _why_ you want him dead." This question seemed to catch the big guy off-guard, but nevertheless, he responded.

"Heh. That's easy. I want 'im _dead_ because he cramps my business!" He sniffed a bit of snot back into his large nose and sighed. "So, will you do him for me?"

With a confident nod, I replied, "That's why I'm here. He'll be dead before sundown."

Gizmo smiled at me as if admiring a successful protégé and clapped his hands. "Good! Return with the dog tags that he wears around his neck as proof. And we never had this conversation; you don't mention this to _anyone_. No one _ever_ double-crosses me. _No one_." His face became serious again and sent me on my way. As soon as the conversation ended, I hit the "stop recording" button from my jacket pocket and nodded to Ian and Dogmeat. I got a nod back in understanding, and they walked out of the casino right behind me.

The three of us ran back to the general store and opened the door. There in the middle of the shop, with a bandage wrapped around where he got shot, stood Killian Darkwater. He greeted the three of us and even acknowledged our new friend, Dogmeat. "So," he said, petting Dogmeat. "Did you get the evidence?" Ian and I nodded while Dogmeat barked. Killian gave us a grin. "Which? Bug or tape?"

After tossing him the tape recorder, I spoke up and said, "The confession."

We heard him mutter, "Let's hear it" as he hit play and we listened to the conversation that Gizmo and I just had. You could clearly hear my voice, though Gizmo's was a bit muffled. Nevertheless, you could still clearly hear him organize the assassination of Killian Darkwater. "Well," he said after the tape was finished. "That's the first time I've been happy to hear his voice. Thanks friend. Now, time for you and me to take care of the _other_ business." Other business? At first I had forgotten that Killian offered me something from his store in return. After quickly browsing his wares, and noticing that there was still a massive bloodstain on the ground where the fight took place, I handed him a shotgun that I picked up off a nearby table—the same one that he had used to shoot the assassin.

"I'll take the shotgun and ammo." Killian nodded and loaded it before opening a nearby box and setting a case full of shells right next to it.

"Well, thanks again," he said. As I was about to turn around he stopped me. "Oh, listen! I'm gonna take the guards up and run Gizmo and his cronies out of town. We could use another gun…" I could already tell where this was going. "You up for it? Might be good for a laugh." Ian and I snickered at the last sentence, trying to imagine Gizmo getting shot in the stomach in slow-motion, having his belly jiggle violently with every round that goes into him. I looked at Ian to see what he had in mind. Since he shrugged, I turned back to Killian and nodded.

"Sure. It'll be worth it just to see him try to walk more than ten feet." Now it was Killian's turn to laugh. After he was done, he coughed a bit then went right back to business.

"Go talk to Lars at the guard station, he'll fill you in. And listen, this town owes you… A lot." I nodded at Killian's words and polished my shotgun a bit before walking out of the store.

"So…" I said to Ian, looking at my shotgun. "I assume you want my hunting rifle now that I have this baby?" Ian laughed a bit.

"Nah, I can't use rifles to save my life. I'm only good with pistols and knives. I'm a pretty simple guy. Keep the hunting rifle and the shotgun. This SMG is good enough for me." We nodded and continued walking towards the guard station. Lars took one look at us and waved.

"Hey guys! Ready to kick Gizmo's ass?" Ian pulled out his SMG, Dogmeat growled, and I took out my double-barrel.

With a nod, I responded, "You bet! Let's nail that tub!" Lars grinned at my enthusiasm and led us up to the general store.

"The rest of the guards will meet up with us here in about 5 minutes. Everyone locked and loaded? Got stimpaks within reach?" Ian and I nodded. It was time to take down Gizmo!

Mere minutes after discussing the plan, Killian pulled out his pistol and kicked down the door to Gizmo's Casino. Everyone in the building was now aware that in a few minutes, this place would be a warzone. Some took the hint and evacuated while others stayed and continued gambling as if they hadn't noticed us—OR maybe they legitimately hadn't heard us barge in. The small group consisting of Killian, Lars, Ian, Dogmeat, a few guards, and I all advanced towards the back. Killian kicked the second door down that led to Gizmo's office. Gizmo sat up surprised and eyed Killian suspiciously, reaching under his desk after noticing that I was amongst the group. He must've caught on that I double-crossed him and that we're here to arrest him. Killian slowly raised his pistol to Gizmo.

"I'm here to take you in, Gizmo. This time I got the proof I need." Gizmo scowled at this, and his bodyguard, whose name was apparently Izo, gripped his hammer tighter. Gizmo made a laugh that surprisingly sent chills down my spine.

"So, it comes down to this, eh Killian? I never could put up with your stink, and now I'm going to put an end to it!" With that, he raised the pistol that he's been concealing and fired it directly at Killian. Unfortunately for him, Killian had quick reflexes for an old man and dove out of the way, firing a single shot at Gizmo, which hit him hard enough to collapse onto his desk. I pulled out my shotgun and fired it twice at the fat bastard while he collected himself. You could hear him mutter "Ooh, my ribs…" To be honest, I don't know to this day if he was referring to the ribs in his anatomy, or if he ate _way_ too many barbecued ribs that day. I'd assumed the latter. Izo grunted and ran up to me, raising his foot while I was still focused on Gizmo.

"Anthony!" Lars yelled. "Duck!" I turned my attention to Izo and moved out of the way just in time to avoid a high kick. The second Izo set his foot back down after missing his target; Lars fired a buckshot at him, knocking the brute to the ground. Dogmeat ran over in front of me and started to bite and claw Izo so that he couldn't get up. While Izo attempted to get Dogmeat off of him, Ian raised his SMG and fired directly at his chest, tearing several holes through the metal armor and ending the bodyguard's life. Gizmo recovered from his injury and fired his pistol at me in all the chaos. The bullet went right through me and hit the wall behind as I screamed in agony. Grinning, Gizmo then turned his gun and shot Killian, hitting his uninjured shoulder. Killian grunted in pain, but nonetheless raised his firearm and shot Gizmo, blasting him in the stomach. Bone shrapnel from his ribs pierced his stomach fat and tissue. The casino owner was finally dead. The guards all looked at Killian as he lowered his firearm and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

"Nice job, boys." He said, breathing heavily. "Let's get out of here." Quietly, I picked up Gizmo's gun and passed it to Ian, who looked at it for a bit.

"Hmm... Yep, this is pretty good. I can use this." I also took the little bag of money that Gizmo had on him before leaving with Killian and the guards. And so, Gizmo was dead (may the bastard rest in pieces). His casino was shut down without an owner, and Killian lived to guard this town another day.

"You're going." Ian said to me a few minutes later.

"Urgh… No I'm not!" I replied defiantly. "I do _not_ wanna go to the damned hospital."

"Too bad," he said, taking my arm. "Let's go." All I could do was sigh and let him drag me to the doctor's to treat my bullet wound.

"What about stimpaks?" My friend glared at me.

"Those things only heal so much. Gizmo broke your ribs with that shot. You were lucky that he didn't hit your heart." And so, he dragged me to Doc Morbid's shortly after collecting our reward for killing Gizmo and Izo. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by two intimidating bodyguards, one named Cougar, and one named Flash. In the room to the left, there was a menacing-looking man in a white lab-coat and bottle-cap glasses. He nodded to acknowledge our existence and walked over us.

"Hi." He said. "I'm Doc Morbid, how can I help?"

Ian smiled at him, responding, "Hi Doc. I'm Ian from Shady Sands. My friend here got…" Ian was cut off by the doctor, who smiled at the mention of Shady Sands.

"Shady Sands eh? You tell my former pupil Razlo that I said 'hello'!" This guy taught Razlo?! Woah, he _must_ be good. Ian nodded.

"Will do," he said. "Now, my friend here got shot by Gizmo, and he busted his ribs." The doctor nodded, taking notes.

"Ahh, okay. Alright, well let's have a look…" After a quick examination, he pulled out a calculator and started working on a price. "Okay, well, I can fix you up for a low price of 343 caps." My heart sunk.

"343 caps?" The doctor nodded.

"You can pay for it, can you?" I nodded slowly. True, we _did_ just earn 600 for busting Gizmo.

"Yeah," I said, a bit upset. With that, the doctor fixed me up. Needless to say, by the end of the day I felt good as new, but regardless, the doc said that I had to stay overnight, so Ian and Dogmeat stayed at the Crash House Hotel and left me for the night.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly well, but then… "That" happened…I woke up late at night with an upset bladder. I went downstairs looking for the bathroom, only to find what looked like a factory. There, in front of an operation table stood a midget, and he was _sawing the flesh off of a human leg_. I resisted the urge to throw up and contemplated turning and running, but he turned to look at me.

"What you down here for?" The being eyed me suspiciously. Stumbling for words, I thought quickly.

"Uh, your boss sent me down." The midget looked a bit upset by this, but then went back and continued to saw.

"Body parts almost ready to go to Hub" he said. I resisted the urge to ask why, but I instead continued to act as if I was in on it.

"Yes, that's why I'm here." All that mattered was that Doc Morbid was running a very _morbid operation_. Anyone? No? Okay… The small human, named Gretch based on his nametag, spoke up.

"Iguana man Bob send you… He happy. _Lots _of good meat!" I couldn't take it anymore. The operation looked like it could easily be covered up, and besides, no action would be taken against Doc Morbid—He was Junktown's only doctor! I guess it was up to me to take action. Running up to the midget, I grabbed him by the neck and started to strangle him.

"You little fucking scab! I'm gonna cut you up and sell _you_ as meat!" Picking up a nearby scalpel, I jammed it into both of his eyes. Unable to scream in pain or yell due to me strangling him, Gretch shortly collapsed and died from a lack of oxygen. I reloaded my shotgun and got ready to do the unthinkable.

After I had climbed back up the stairs, I walked up to sleeping doctor and jammed the shotgun into his mouth. Before he could react, I had already pulled the trigger, causing his headless corpse to fall off of the cot as brain matter splattered the walls. While the hospital was soundproofed against the outside world (no doubt to hide the screams of pain and agony), I was not safe to anyone that was inside the hospital. The loud noise quickly woke Flash and Cougar up. As soon as they had gathered what happened, they started to run towards me. Just as they were about to hit me, the door opened and Ian, Dogmeat, and the man in the green shirt from a few nights before were all standing there. Ian emptied the SMG into Flash while Dogmeat started tearing Cougar to shreds. In a matter of minutes, both were dead. "How did you know?" was all I could force from my mouth. Ian pointed to the man in the green shirt.

"John here is one of the doctor's victims. They cut off his leg and replaced it with a wooden one." The man hobbled to me.

"It was horrible!" he said, crying. "I didn't want the same to happen to you, so when I saw that your friend and dog here dumped you off at Morbid's, I felt the need to warn them. Thus… Here we are." I nodded and put my gun away, taking the leather armor off of the two corpses that lay before us and trying it on.

"Well, the threat is now gone. But, who is this Iguana Bob fellow that they sell the human parts to in The Hub?" Ian piped up, picking up the shotgun shells that Cougar and Flash had dropped, and handing them to me.

"He's a salesman that sells Iguana-on-a-Stick. Supposedly, at least… I knew that guy was fishy! What do you say we do, boss?" I thought for a moment.

"We'll figure out when we get there. For now, let's just find a place to sleep. Let's try the Crash House again…"

And so, after a parting ways with John and a quick walk, we knocked on the door. There was a long pause, and the woman that had thrown us out the last time stood there. "It's late," she said. "Come back again in…" I cut her off.

"Please, let us stay. We have money, so we're good for it. Isn't that enough?" She looked at each of us, and eventually shrugged, yawning.

"Eh, why not? Do you want the night package or the week package? Most customers go with the week package, so I would if I were you." I pondered it a bit. We weren't really hoping to stay in Junktown much longer, so I just chose the night package. After leading us to our room, the woman left us to go to sleep, and within minutes, Ian, Dogmeat, and I were out despite the obviously fake and obnoxiously loud moans from the hooker in the next room over.

The next morning, I was awakened by a frantic receptionist. She was shaking me and looked absolutely terrified. "Oh, thank god you're awake!" she began to cry. "Some crazy guy has Sinthia held hostage and he's gonna kill her! You've got to help!" I scrambled to my feet at this news.

"What?!" I yelled, putting my leather armor on and grabbing my shotgun with Ian and Dogmeat still sleeping. "Where?" Despite not knowing who this Sinthia was, I felt that I _had_ to save her. The receptionist pointed to the next room over, and I ran in. The guy standing there was a thug that I think we saw in the raider camp. He stood in the middle of the room holding the scantily-dressed hooker by the neck and holding a pistol to her head. He looked just as nervous and as upset as the receptionist.

"That's it!" He yelled, his hand with the gun trembling. "Don't come any closer! I'll off her, I swear!" I highly doubted that, but I might as well not test him.

I stood tall much like at the raider camp and yelled back, "Don't do it!" A look of fear took over his face.

"Or what?" he retorted. "She's just a whore." He pressed the gun harder on her head.

I quickly answered with "She has as much a right to live as you do!" that threw him off, and he struggled to come up with a reasonable response, resisting the urge to open fire. Probably mostly because he knew that the second he pulled the trigger, he'd have signed his own death warrant.

"N-No!" He yelled. "No way! Not this bitch!" He looked truly terrified, and a silence overcame the hotel. I quietly took a step forward, and he jumped, startled at my movement. Sinthia was crying hysterically as he contemplated what he'd do. "S-Stay back! I don't want to hurt her… But I will!"

Calmly, I muttered, "Don't. Or I'll have to hurt you." My words seemed to send a chill up his spine, and he nearly dropped the gun in fear. He quickly collected himself.

"Try it, and I'll shoot her head off… Now, what you were saying?" I needed to think.

"Okay, but you've got to keep talking to me." He nodded to show me that my proposition seemed fair.

"I'll keep talking as long as you do… But try anything tricky…" He nudged the woman for emphasis. "She'll take the fall." I gulped, feeling the tension rise. We both thought for a bit, ready to negotiate our terms of release. "…Where do we go from here?" he asked me, which caused me to shrug my shoulders nonchalantly.

"You tell me. You're in charge." This statement caused him to betray a slight smile, and he breathed in deeply before exhaling easily.

"I want some money, and I wanna get out of here peacefully. No one follows me." Just as he said this, I interjected.

"No money, but you can just walk away. Nobody will do anything, I promise." The wimpy thug thought for a bit, pondering his options. In the end, he had decided to go with things my way. Thank you for the lessons in negotiating, Albert.

"That's okay, I guess". With that, he holstered his pistol and walked out of the hotel peacefully as promised. The woman, who was breathing heavily, looked up at me. "Th-Thank you for saving me." I gave her a sincere smile and helped her up off the floor.

"Hey, it was no problem. Are you okay?" The young blonde prostitute gave me a small smile, and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm not hurt. Thank you so much." I gave her a nod, and was about to leave, but then she closed and locked the door before I could get out. She eyed the ground shyly, playing with her feet. "Umm… Don't tell anyone I did this, but for you… My services are free." Before I could ask what she meant, she had me pinned up against the wall and began to kiss me vigorously. I laid her on the bed, and pulled my shirt off, pulling her close. You could imagine what my next forty minutes were like.

As soon as I had finished getting dressed, I opened the door and kissed Sinthia goodbye. I had promised her that I'd return again someday to save her from her crappy-ass job, and return I would. Just as the group was about to leave the hotel, the receptionist stopped us. "Thank you for what you did. I'm sorry for waking you up rudely. You deserve a good night's sleep." She handed us the room key. "But don't ask for another freebie". I gave her a nod and walked back into the hotel room that we had spent the night in. Sinthia asked for the day off so that she could sleep right next to me. I held the poor young girl close and fell asleep, comfortably surrounded by my friends and loved ones.

We left the hotel and headed north. Ian said that he was really craving a beer at this point. There was apparently a bar, called "The Skum Pitt". It was only open at night, so of course, the place was packed. We all sat down at a table and waited for the waitress to be readily available. An old bald man with mutton chops and goggles showed up and sat next to us. He wore a leather vest with a normal shirt, worn with age underneath. There was a gas mask hanging from his neck, and he wore matching leggings that were protected with metal plates. He waved to us and sat down at the one empty chair.

"Hey boys!" The man greeted. "Never seen you around these parts before, but I heard of what you did. That bastard Gizmo had it coming!" I gave him a grin and thanked him, asking what he wanted. "Now, don't you worry. _I'm_ gonna be the one offering to buy you guys a drink. What would you like?" Ian ordered a whiskey while I asked for a simple beer. The man nodded and approached a waitress. "Two whiskeys and a beer, please." The young waitress nodded and went to the bar quickly. The stranger reappeared in the seat that he had just left. "Ahh, but where are my manners? The name's Tycho. Tycho Cassidy. What brings you two here?" Just as Ian and I explained why we're here with Tycho nodding in interest, the waitress sat down the drinks and picked up the caps that Tycho had left on the table. As soon as she was out of sight, Tycho whispered to us. "I hope you don't mind if your beer is well-watered. They treat alcohol here like it's a potted plant!" I snickered before looking at him interest.

"So, what's your story?" He beamed, finally able to talk about his life.

"Well, I come from out east, in what used to be known as Nevada." I nearly did a spit-take with my drink.

"Seems dangerous! How'd you survive all the dangers?" Tycho grinned from ear to ear, taking a sip of his drink.

"It _was _dangerous! Luckily, my grandfather was a desert ranger way back when, and he ended up passing all that he knew to my father. In turn, daddy taught everything that he knew to me. So to speak, I know enough not to drink glowing water." Tycho took another sip. This man seemed to know it all, and considering he had a shotgun by his side, I was willing to bet that he was pretty good with rifles.

"Wow…" I said in awe. "You must be pretty knowledgeable."

Tycho grinned proudly, ready to boast some more. "My family taught me everything that there is to know about survival in the wilderness. For example, don't drink water that is totally clear and free of moss, insects, or other bugs and vegetation. No water other than irradiated water is _that _clean in the wilderness. Lots of other things to look out for too…" I took another sip of my watery drink.

"Mm, like what?"

"Well, if you're interested, I could go over some pointers…" I smiled and gave Tycho a nod, letting him teach Ian and I about several survival tricks. No wonder this man survived a trip from the east. By the end of the lecture, Ian knocked impatiently on the wooden table, and I was still intrigued. Tycho finished up still as energetic as before. I thanked Tycho and was about to get up, having finished my drink, but he stopped us. "Hold on a minute, you two! You never told me your names." I turned and looked back at him.

"My name is Anthony Breznican. This is Ian." Tycho nodded and waved us good-bye. As quickly as I had walked away, I turned back around and spoke to Tycho again. "Hey, I was wondering… I'm gonna be leaving pretty soon. Care to accompany me on my travels?" With a huge grin on his face, Tycho took his shotgun and slung his arms around me and Ian's shoulders.

"Ah, thank you, boys! I'd be happy to! Where are we going?" I told him that we were planning on staying for maybe another night, to which he nodded and sat down with us. All of a sudden, we heard a loud screaming and saw a large brutish guy slap a girl so hard that she fell.

"You fucking bitch!" the guy yelled, spitting snuff on the floor before walking towards her. Just as I reached for my shotgun, there was a loud "boom" and a hole suddenly blew into his chest. Desperate trying to breathe, the scoundrel fell to his knees and died. I looked towards the source of the blast as did everyone else, and saw the old bartender armed with a shotgun.

"You damn cretins keep away from my waitress. Get the fuck out of my bar, and if I ever see you bastards again, I'll kill the whole lotta ya!" A large group of thugs then, slowly but surely, were seen exiting he building, surprised and disgruntled.

You could easily hear one of them muttering, "You haven't seen the last of us, Neal". Tycho leaned in to whisper to me.

"Those are The Skulz. They think they're a gang. Don't get me wrong, they're a threat, but they're not as bad as the Khans or the Vipers." Watching the shaken waitress return to her job, I'd decided to help stop The Skulz.

"Well, I think I heard Lars mentioning them when Ian and I first got into town," I whispered. "He said that they were about as bad as Gizmo." Tycho finished his drink and took us over to the bartender, Neal.

"Neal," the desert ranger addressed the barkeep. "Do you think that The Skulz are bad news?" The old bartender grunted and set down the glass that he was cleaning before nodded slowly.

"Those bastards are gonna end up picking a goddamned fight that they can't finish, and then they're gonna get their brains blown out. Maggots." With a sigh, he continued washing some dishes. On the table, I noticed a small silver trophy.

"Hey, Neal?" I asked curiously. "What's this trophy for?" Tycho slapped himself in the face, probably because I had said something stupid.

With a sigh, the old man looked me in the eyes with his own, betraying a sorrowful look, and said, "That's not a trophy. That's an urn. It contains my wife's ashes." There was a mournful silence that had taken over the atmosphere, and I apologized.

"I'm sorry to hear about that, Neal." The old man sniffled a bit and nodded.

"It's okay," he said. "She's in a better place now." We said our goodbyes and went to Lars at the entrance to Junktown.

"Lars!" I called, getting the man's attention as he took a drag on a cigarette.

"Anthony! Friends! Hey, Tycho! What're you doing with these guys?" Lars addressed our latest addition to the team.

Tycho looked back at us and responded, "I'm finally gonna get out again and seek some thrills like old time's sake." Lars nodded and looked at us.

"A noble cause, Cassidy. A noble cause." Lars took a drag on his cigarette and offered each of us one. I was the only one to decline. Lars looked at me up and down. "So, why are you here at this late hour, Breznican?" I briefly told him about the fight at the bar, and he nodded, sighing at the mention of The Skulz. "Well…" he said, thinking for a bit. "I suppose if you could figure out as to when and where they plan to start trouble next. Then the guards and I can stop and arrest them." I nodded at his plan.

"So," I said, concocting a plan. "Where is their base of operations located?" Lars began to catch on to my idea.

"Their HQ is in the back of the Crash House." The burly guard took a drag on his cigarette. With a nod and a handshake, we left for the local hotel.

Once we got to the Crash House, I ordered a room for the night and asked to see Sinthia after paying the gang a visit. We headed to the back and opened the door only to see a large group of thugs either smoking, drinking, shooting up Psycho (a psychoactive drug), or playing pool. I saw a man in a black leather jacket that looked much like me and Ian's. He spotted us and approached our group.

"Why the fuck are you here?" he asked lazily. "I'm Vinnie, the leader of The Skulz." I stared into his unconcerned bloodshot eyes and cleared my throat.

"I'd like to join your gang." He looked at me as if I was an elephant in a classroom and laughed hard.

"You?" he said, pointing to me. "You want to join The Skulz?" I shot him a glare, to which he took a step back. "Woah, okay kid! Settle down. How are you gonna prove yourself to us?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"Give me a test. Any test, and I'll pass it. I recently heard about your bar brawl down at the Skum Pitt, so if you need help getting revenge…" Vinnie eyed me cautiously.

He nodded, saying, "Okay, let's assume you're competent enough to do a bit of thieves' work… Would ya?" Not knowing where he was going with this, as long as I didn't have to assassinate any innocent people, I'd be good to go.

I shot the leader a confidant grin and nodded. "What do you need me to do?"

About four hours later, I picked the look on the door to the Skum Pitt. Looking to the left and to the right, I snuck in. I could faintly hear snoring coming from the back room. It must've been Neal. Poor guy. I approached the bar table and admired the intricate silver urn, gilded with lines of gold. I picked up the cup that contained the ashes of Neal's wife, and snuck out of the bar, heading towards the hotel. Upon arrival, I saw Vinnie, The Skulz, and all my friends waiting for me. I handed Vinnie the urn and crossed my arms. "Yup," he said. "This is it, all right. We're gonna make that old cock suffer for his last few hours." I nodded, awaiting for him to reveal the plan. "Okay," he finally announced to everyone. "On the first order of business, please welcome our latest recruits! Anthony, Ian, Tycho, and Dogmeat. On another note, tonight at exactly midnight, we will invade the Skum Pitt and kill off Neal." The large crowd began to cheer and for the sake of fitting in, we did too. I felt truly terrible. That was when I had learned that sometimes you had to do a truly terrible thing to be a good person. We headed back the guard station while The Skulz were suiting up, and I ran over to Lars once I spotted him.

"Lars! Lars!" I called, approaching the officer. Before he could respond, I blurted it out. "The Skulz are planning on offing Neal tonight at midnight!" His look turned into one of surprise.

"What?!" He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, thanks for telling me. I'll have the guards set up by then. Care to join us?" I gave him a nod and began to set up. I could tell that this would be our last adventure in Junktown.

The time was 11:59. Kalnor, the guard that let us into Junktown, spotted them on the horizon. Several Junktown guards pulled out spears and others pulled out rifles. The second that they saw us, they began to fire, approaching the bar at a rapid pace. The first volley of bullets took out two guards—Kalnor and another guard that we've seen guarding the jail. Those bastards! We shot back in retaliation. Lars threw his spear, which pierced the neck of a Skulz member. Tycho and I fired our shotguns, taking down two more members of the Skulz. One got in around the side and fired a single shot aimed at Ian. Time stood still. I ran back into the bar and jumped in front of Ian, taking the hit in the shoulder.

"Ah, damn!" I muttered, holding my shoulder. I turned to face Ian, jamming a stimpaks into my arm. "It's my turn to save you!" He looked at me, shocked that I'd take a bullet for him, but then he grinned and nodded. He raised his SMG and shot the hell out of the gang member. Just as Ian helped me up, I saw Vinnie approaching Neal.

"Look at you, old man," he said, snickering at the old bartender, which in losing his wife's ashes, lost the will to live. "You're just a self-righteous bartender that moans and goes on about his wife. Sucks to be you." He raised his pistol. "Say your prayers." He pulled the trigger. Neal closed his eyes, waiting for the end, but the end didn't come. He looked up and saw that Lars took the bullet for him, much like I had for Ian.

Lars looked back at him with a large hole in his chest and said, while coughing up blood, "The job of a guard is to protect the citizens… I will die knowing that I've done my job." With that, Lars slumped over, dark crimson spreading throughout his armor. Rage built up inside Neal, causing him to pull Vinnie close and punch the bastard in the face. He took the gun right out of Vinnie's hands and beat him over the head with it, causing Vinnie's head to bleed rapidly. The old man held the barrel of the gun up to the gang leader's head. He cleared his throat.

"Now," he said. "What was that about it sucking to be me?" Neal pulled the trigger, ending Vinnie's life. The gang leader's head exploded from the gunshot just before his limp body fell onto a wooden table, smashing it. I slowly approached the corpse and pried open his hand. The urn that contained the ashes fell into the palm of my hand. I ran over to Lars and jammed a few stimpaks into him, but it was too late: Lars, the police captain, was dead. I looked up at Neal as the remaining guards took Lars and the other bodies of those that had died away, presumably, to be buried. I handed him the urn, which caused tears to well in his eyes.

"Here," I said. "I found this." I guess I neglected to mention that it was I that stole it in the first place, but whatever. Neal began to cry tears of joy.

"Thank you," he whispered. "You and your friends will never pay for a drink in this bar again!"

We partied the rest of the night away, mourning those that had died, and celebrating the defeat of The Skulz. To say the least, my days in Junktown were rather bittersweet. The next day, we said goodbye to everyone. I promised Sinthia that I would return, told Killian to take care, and gave Neal a hug. I had realized that all of these people were my friends. I wouldn't trade them for the world. We stopped at the general store one last time before heading out. Killian gave me a pretty good New Year's deal and ended up selling me most of his stock in return for some weapons and armor that we'd pick up off some of the Skulz.

...

_**A/N: Aaaaaand if you thought THIS was long, just wait until I finish writing "Chapter 5: The Hub". Oh, the Hub. If I recall correctly, a viewer requested that I do something for Loxley, the leader of the Theives' Circle. I was originally going to leave him out of the story, but I worked out a plot detail that would allow me to logically include him in the story. :) Stay tuned for possibly one of the longest chapters in this story: The Hub.**_


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